You can't have high expectations from a show that almost instantly hits you with a cliché sequence. A human rights lawyer, Juan Olvera (Diego Calva), gets ready to meet his client at a prison. But before leaving his house to catch the bus, he spends some happy moments with his very pregnant wife, Helena (Ana Sofía Gatica). What follows is one of those brightly-lit, cute montages that indicates that a tragedy is about to hit the characters. Hence, I wasn't surprised when Juan got trapped in prison. During his visit, some men rescue an inmate named Baldor (Alejandro Puente) by creating a diversion. A powerful guy named, or shall we say numbered, 25 wants this accountant. Juan came to the prison to check if his client was being treated well. Now, he will personally get to hear the complaints of the prisoners. Their leader, Calancho (Noé Hernández), expresses his disappointment with unfair treatment. Through his speech, we learn that some senior prisoners have still not been granted a cell. Many of them are forced to live in overcrowded spaces, which leads to suffocation. By holding Baldor hostage, Calancho just wants to make prison life better. How noble!
What this means is that Calancho isn't exactly a villain. He intervenes to stop one of his men from harassing a female police officer, firmly asserting that they should not behave like animals. Of course, this doesn't stop him from instigating a knife fight between the two characters, thus reducing them to animals. Anyway, Calancho, in his own twisted way, fights for the right cause. The real villains in Prison Cell 211 inhabit the upper echelons of authority - senior police officers as well as influential figures in the government - those entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order. Juan steps into the prison as an honest, innocent citizen but ultimately transforms into a criminal by committing murders. And yet, this criminal remains more virtuous than many government officers. Calancho and his men want good food, comfortable beds, and blankets for everyone, while those in power are selfish and cold-hearted. It's a fascinating idea: Blur the lines between good and evil. Prison Cell 211, though, squanders its rich potential.
As a thriller about a man who has to maintain his cover in front of the prisoners, the series lacks genuine thrills and surprises. In fact, all the tension leaks away from the screen as soon as a character close to Calancho dies at the hands of Juan (this happens in either the second or the third episode). There are moments where Prison Cell 211 uses jerky, slow motion to give chaos a subjective lens. This trick, however, is very distracting and calls attention to itself. Also, it fails to present the event from a new angle, and this frame rate manipulation certainly doesn't render the horror tangible. In one of the episodes, the image of a belly being squeezed in the crowd is intercut with a character's violent action. A scene like this makes you recoil in disgust, which might be the show's intention - it wants to display what kind of damage power-hungry individuals can inflict on ordinary people with their actions. But I wasn't repulsed due to such "weighty notions." I found this scene cheap because I couldn't shake off the feeling that it was simply trying to shock the audience. I grew uncomfortable but for all the wrong reasons.
To survive inside the cell, Juan dons the facade of a prisoner. This means that his cover is crucial. Yet, when Calancho and others discover his real identity later, nothing significant happens. And is it supposed to be some kind of joke that a good police officer is named Berenice (very nice)? A show like Prison Cell 211 feels more like an academic thesis than a gripping drama. You see what it's trying to convey, but as a cinematic experience, it leaves you with nothing but flashy tricks and disappointment. Who cares what happens to any of these characters? Certainly not this viewer.
Final Score- [3/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
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Publisher at Midgard Times