Concrete & Sunshine

California, a narrator intones, is an "evolving dream." The state's biggest economic boosters are sun, surf, entertainment...and maximum security prisons? Concrete & Sunshine is a disjointed documentary that looks at prison building in the golden state (home to the fourth largest prison system on this planet) from the perspectives of economic development, land use, and public policy. Several of the prisons, such as Pelican Bay, are of the maximum security type, where many languish in solitary confinement all day long (according to one inmate, the only way out is "snitch, parole, or die"). After reviewing the depressing daily life of randomly selected prisoners, however, the video suddenly takes a turn to examine how the philosophy of solitary isolation began in America's prisons. Ironically, Philadelphia Quakers thought solitary confinement would force prisoners to meditate on their sins (unfortunately, many prisoners went insane from forced isolation, and this practice was reluctantly abandoned). But then the film takes another turn to examine how economically depressed counties in isolated areas hope to use prison building to spur economic development. If all of this sounds a bit confusing, it is (and I haven't even mentioned the foray into the question of water rights). Ultimately, filmmaker Nicole Cousino's Concrete & Sunshine is a work of unclear intentions, thematically disorganized (sometimes to the point of incoherence), and technically spotty (with poor sound and substandard production qualities). Not recommended. Aud: C, P. (S. Rees)