Caged

Caged

‘Caged’ is a psychological drama about Harlow (Edi Gathegi), an African American psychiatrist who is convicted for killing his wife. He claims to be innocent and is put into solitary confinement while he fights for an appeal. An abusive female guard drives him to the brink of madness, but that’s not all his dead wife also begins haunting him, making him doubt whether or not he murdered her.

Most of the story takes place in Harlow‘s cell. We’re with him as he suffers behind bars; this includes both physical and mental suffering brought on by others around him they play twisted games with his mind, forcing him into “mind wrestling” matches if you will.

We watch as he slips in and out of reality, replaying events from that day over and over again in his head. Crafty screenplay writing uses flashbacks to show us what happened through Harlow‘s eyes. Then it’s up to us to decide if he really did it or not.

The whole thing messes with Harlow’s head because now memories are unreliable and some events just didn’t happen. On top of that, ghosts or hallucinations might be chasing after images of Amber.

Obviously there were some unresolved issues between the two of them. In those flashback scenes we learn that insecure egoistic Dr Reid was married to defiant yet cherished daughter from wealthy controlling father Amber (played by Angela Sarafyan).

Gathegi holds ‘Caged’ together with his performance alone; it could have easily crumbled otherwise considering everything else did so little justice throughout production value wise. Acting range displayed here deserves recognition though anger turns into excitement before confusion then surprise kicks in too much more! But wait until you get towards end where there’s moments filled with hope followed by complete despair which seem authentic enough given whatever setting I find myself witnessing these acts being portrayed upon screen by this man at such times when light may shine down upon him. Someday this film could come up.

Right beside Gathegi stands Melora Hardin as Officer Sacks, a sadistic prison warden who seems to have it out for Harlow every step of the way. She comes off as racist but there’s really no reason or explanation given other than she just doesn’t like him I suppose? Her psychological and physical torture scenes are some of the best in this entire damn movie if you ask me! My god did I hate that woman so much which means I guess job well done acting wise then right?

The cinematography here is tight and mostly close-ups especially within Harlow‘s cell; however they do show enough that one can experience what being locked away in such a small space must feel like when watching these scenes.

Harlow’s experience is something we never want to imagine happening but unfortunately it most likely happens more often than not with inmates placed under solitary confinement units across our country prisons today. He feels abandoned by everyone around him—no help from anyone whatsoever so how could he possibly survive under such conditions?

My rating for this movie would be 6/10. It is emotional, tense and heart-breaking. There’s just something about seeing a man pushed to his limits that makes you want to change your life.

Another thing that works for the film is how it lets the audience know they have to find out whether or not he really did commit murder. Even when Harlow begins thinking about suicide, you can’t tell at first if he’s doing it because of guilt or just hopelessness. This argument alone will keep you watching until the end.

‘CAGED’ is one of those movies that may not excite you immediately; it asks for some patience in order to sit through and appreciate what it does. However, its underlying themes of racism, injustice, regret and pain are strong and carried out well by everyone involved in making this film.

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