Black Mama, White Mama (1973)

Pam goes to prison - again!, 18 February 2006

If you're a fan of either early Pam Grier or 70s Women-in-Prison (WIP) flicks, I'm sure this plot synopsis will sound eerily familiar: Two women are taken to an all-women's prison in the middle of the jungle in some unnamed Banana Republic. There the women are forced to endure physical torture, unwanted sexual situations, and working in the fields. With very little provocation, the two women become enemies and start a fight in the prison cafeteria. More scenes of torture until the women decide to work together to make their escape only to have what seems like everyone (police, gangsters, bounty hunters, revolutionaries) on their trail. It's like déjà vu all over again.

As far as WIP/exploitation films go, Black Mama, White Mama is neither the best nor worst I've seen. It's just about average. Other than having the two main characters chained together (which isn't really that novel an idea), no new ground is broken in this film. Most everything is standard cliché. For example, it takes less than 5 minutes of the movie's runtime for what I call The Required WIP Shower Scene. This one comes complete with a guard ogling the women through a peephole. How original!

Black Mama, White Mama left me with one burning question – how were these two women able to change clothes, including dressing like nuns, while chained together? It seems impossible to me.

6/10