Happy Jail

This doc is pretty much a mess, though it is entertaining at times. It gives you a very real look into how ridiculous the politics are in the Philippines and how people seem to fail upwards on the institutional ladders. The authorities, including the consultant, are incompetent (the actual warden of the jail seems like a half-wit) and their critics are insincere and probably corrupt. The doc itself found lots of ways to waste time as it was obvious they didn't get a whole lot of substance from the inmates. Still, the events in the doc are so weird and absurd that you actually come away enlightened in spite of a lack of actual insight on the part of the filmmakers. I don't think the creators really knew what they wanted to say here and it shows. Besides the wish-washy nature of the final product here, the only drawback may be a very real wasted opportunity to show how miserable and broken the "justice" system is in the Philippines. They made it out to be a gossipy party-center. I bet most prisons in that country are worse than a nightmare especially considering you can spend years there without ever seeing the inside of a courtroom.

I saw movies showing jails but that cpdrc is different.... making me more curious about this and that... so I hope there'll be more episodes. The subtitles need an improvement and there is no English translation of their cebuano dialect.

At first, i was skeptical of how they were going to keep this running for 5 episodes. But wow did they surprise me! The show had interesting subjects and unexpected action.

Great narrative, pleasing cinematography, and lovely soundtrack. The documentary shows how life, especially in prison, is not just black and white but every color in between.

Even though we are oversaturated with jail docs, this is still quite an interesting look at a unique jail in the Philippines. The slight down side is the lack of subtitles sometimes!