Shackles

R

2005

1h 55m

Drama

List

Reviews

77%

Audience Score

1,000+ Ratings

Ben Cross (D.L. Hughley) is desperate for work when he's contacted by a warden (Georg Stanford Brown) to teach at his prison. Cross jumps at the chance, hoping to inspire inmates with the power of words, but he meets resistance. Through sheer force of will, he manages to get his message across -- especially to Gabriel Garcia (Jose Pablo Cantillo), who excels under his guidance. Some prisoners are harder to reach than others, however, and Cross faces a situation that threatens to explode.

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Dragan Antulov

Draxblog Movie Reviews

tells an old story in occasionally inventive way

Rated: 5/10

Oct 4, 2005

Full Review

Scott Weinberg

DVDTalk.com

A dreary little button-pusher laden with overbaked dramatics, coloring book plot conventions, and annoyingly simplistic answers to several truly difficult questions.

Rated: 1.5/5

Sep 4, 2005

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Audience Member

I loved this film. A great story with thought provoking concepts and ideas. A prison film but of different kind. D.L. Hughly is fantastic as a teacher who is trying to teach prison students. There's some great performances all round. A cult classic.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

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Audience Member

This movie should have one an Oscar.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

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Audience Member

decent enough film not advanced story telling though, with a somewhat predictable ending.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

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Audience Member

loved the movie... poems are tight.. longshoot executed his roll in this movie with perfection..

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

Audience Member

An interesting idea that was kind of a mix between "24" and " Dead Poets Society". The occasional split screens definitely was an artistic choice that worked for this film.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Audience Member

Loved the Slam Poetry on this...the message is pretty good to!

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

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Charles Winkler

Director

D.L. Hughley

Ben Cross

Jose Pablo Cantillo

Gabriel Garcia

Georg Stanford Brown

Warden

Vicellous Reon Shannon

Sammy One

Jerry Quickley

Tone

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Synopsis

Ben Cross (D.L. Hughley) is desperate for work when he's contacted by a warden (Georg Stanford Brown) to teach at his prison. Cross jumps at the chance, hoping to inspire inmates with the power of words, but he meets resistance. Through sheer force of will, he manages to get his message across -- especially to Gabriel Garcia (Jose Pablo Cantillo), who excels under his guidance. Some prisoners are harder to reach than others, however, and Cross faces a situation that threatens to explode.

Director: Charles Winkler
Producer: Rob Cowan
Screenwriter: Donald Martin
Production Co: Destination Films
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 25, 2011
Runtime: 1h 55m

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