Ever wonder what it's like? Conviction? Prison? Death Row? The Farm was filmed as an attempt to answer the posed questions. It highlights both social and racial prejudices currently in existence; it is cleverly named, as farm indicates a type of animal implying that humans are treated unjustly there. The powerful documentary illustrates the struggle that Angola inmates face daily- to find justice and compassion within a corrupt governmental system.
Angola is a prison over 100-years-old covering 18,000 acres of gorgeous land alongside the Mississippi river. Originally it was a slave plantation, (but) today convicts are paid anywhere from four to 20 cents an hour for their arduous labor (hey now.) It is evident that not much has changed since the olden days, considering 85 percent of Angola inmates are of African decent. It is an infamous maximum-security prison, known to be the bloodiest of places. Most who enter remain there for an extended period of time, as Louisiana is known for its rather harsh sentences. The Farm exposes the remarkable story of both life and death behind bars. I.
The documentary is rather unique as it is told from the perspective of the prisoners, first-hand. The viewer becomes intimate with each of the six convicts in focus; as a result many opinions regarding certain people's sentences change. .
When we are introduced to John Brown, we learn that he spends 23 hours a day in a cell, alone. He soon admits to killing a man in front of his wife, because he needed money to support his cocaine addiction. He was facing execution and begged for his life at his final hearings, hoping for life in prison. Unfortunately he didn't get his wish. Though on a lighter note, he was allowed to eat whatever he wanted before his execution (how nice.).
Eugene Tannehill, also known as Bishop, has been in Angola for about 40 years. He is an African American who faces a life in prison for murder.