Survivors Guide to Prison

Survivors Guide to Prison is a 2018 documentary film directed by Matthew Cooke exploring the United States prison system, largely through the lens of two wrongly convicted men, Reggie Cole and Bruce Lisker.[1][2] The film, narrated by Cooke and Susan Sarandon, focuses on problems one might face against the prison system via segments covering topics such as plea bargains, solitary confinement, and the difficulties of life after prison. The movie features interviews with former prison inmates, police officers, court officials, lawyers, and journalists, as well as many appearances by celebrities such as Danny Glover, B-Real, Macklemore, Deepak Chopra, RZA, Busta Rhymes, Q-Tip, Quincy Jones, Tom Morello, Wayne Kramer, Ice-T, and Danny Trejo.[3] Some of the celebrities interviewed are themselves former prison inmates. The film was executive produced by Adrian Grenier and Susan Sarandon.

Survivors Guide to Prison
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMatthew Cooke
Written byMatthew Cooke
Produced by
Cinematography
  • Matthew Cooke
  • Steve Minor
Edited byMatthew Cooke
Music bySebastian Robertson
Production
company
Saturday Entertainment
Distributed byGravitas Ventures
Release date
  • 23 February 2018 (2018-02-23) (United States)
Running time
102 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Production

The film was partly crowdfunded, raising nearly $29,000 via an Indiegogo campaign.[4] Organizations such as the ACLU and the Innocence Project also were involved with production.[5]

Release

Survivors Guide to Prison premiered on February 20, 2018, at The Landmark in Los Angeles. The film was subsequently released in theaters and on streaming platforms on February 23, 2018.[6]

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100%, based on 14 reviews with an average rating of 7.9/10.[7] Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[8]

Critics generally praised the film, especially its subject matter and statistics, with Joe Leydon at Variety calling it "surprisingly potent."[3] For the LA Weekly, Paul Rogers spoke of the movie's "impassioned interviews" and "harrowing" score,[9] while Simon Abrams at the Village Voice criticized its "eclectic group of celebrity experts", calling it overall "messy but compelling".[10] The Los Angeles Times' Michael Rechtshaffen also compared it to Ava DuVernay's documentary 13th.[1]

References
  1. Rechtshaffen, Michael (February 22, 2018). "Words from the wise in documentary 'Survivors Guide to Prison'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  2. "Survivors Guide to Prison (2018)". IMDb. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  3. Leydon, Joe (23 February 2018). "Film Review: 'Survivors Guide to Prison'". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  4. McNary, Dave (August 12, 2015). "'Survivor's Guide to Prison' Seeking Crowdfunding, Backed by Susan Sarandon". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  5. Cooke, Matthew; Grenier, Adrian (6 May 2015). "Escaping from the Dark". HuffPost. Oath. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  6. "Survivors Guide to Prison". Gravitas Ventures. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  7. "Survivors Guide to Prison (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  8. "Survivors Guide to Prison Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  9. Rogers, Paul (February 23, 2018). "Survivors Guide to Prison Lifts the Veil on Our Broken Prison System". LA Weekly. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  10. Abrams, Simon (February 21, 2018). "'Survivors Guide to Prison' Will Piss You Off — In a Good Way". The Village Voice. Retrieved February 27, 2018.


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