Black Mama, White Mama

Dir: Eddie Romero

1972

****

Many Exploitation and Blaxploitation films blend into one, indeed, the women in prison sub-genre featured the same stories and the same actors. Pam Grier had made several tropical prison films, including The Big Doll House (also with Sid Haig), its non-sequel follow-up The Big Bird Cage and Women in Cages, while Margaret Markov had appeared in The Hot Box. Both would go on to star along each other once more in The Arena (aka Naked Warriors) where they played prisoners who would have to fight like gladiators for their survival. These films are pure  Exploitation and are for the titillation of men. Most of these films, love them or hate them, tend to follow the same structure and you’d be forgiven for mistaking one for another. However, I believe that Eddie Romero’s 1973 women in prison film Black Mama, White Mama has far more going for it than the others. I’m a huge fan of the genre and guerrilla film making in general and like it or not, modern cinema was built on Exploitation films, learning what to and what not to do. It’s influence can be seen everywhere. Black Mama, White Mama is women in prison, Exploitation and Blaxploitation but its also very much about empowerment. Male Blaxploitation films are generally about taking power, while most female Blaxploitation and or course Exploitation films, are about female submission. The girls often get revenge in the end but again, a lot of the time the punishment they inflict on their male keepers is there to titillate the male viewer. In Black Mama, White Mama there is a strong feminist and Black Power message. It certainly passes the Bechdel test which asks whether a work of fiction features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man even though the film’s tagline was "Chicks in chains... and nothing in common but the hunger of 1,000 nights without a man!”. I’m not sure whether the intention was for the film to be misleading with a strong black and feminist message – I hope it was – but it remained overlooked for some years by critics of the day who still only saw it as more Exploitation trash. In retrospect its actually a significant piece of historical cinema – I kid you not. Both of the films' leads are strong women. Moreover, Karen Brent is a guerrilla fighter and Lee Daniels masterminds a scheme to screw over the misogynistic pimp Vic Cheng. Although Karen is the only female present in the guerrilla force, she is essential to their cause, as she is the only one that has the connections to the weapons dealers, and the only one those dealers trust. She also is seen firing a gun right alongside Ernesto, the guerrilla leader. Throughout the film, Pam Grier is an intriguing mixture of pugnacity and femininity, with a heavy dose of world-weary cynicism" despite the movie itself being somewhat listless and the strength of both women outshine most of the male characters. Grier's screen presence overshadowed the one-dimensional roles that focused on her physical attributes and the weak story-lines in most typical Exploitations. Pam Grier's character Lee also escapes from her former pimp with $40,000 of his money, while the pimp and his henchmen are all killed. Not only that, but when the pair is sexually assaulted by Luis in his work shed midway through the film, Lee stabs him to death. These victories of a strong woman over her misogynistic abusers is nothing short of feminist. Grier is now a cult figure and one of the very few women who has had films developed with her in mind that emphasizes her physical beauty and also her ability to take retribution on men who challenged her – no more so than in Black Mama, White Mama. The title makes reference to both women’s colour but this film is about feminism, it’s subtle and obvious at the same time. The overall structure of the film is modeled on the Sidney Poitier/Tony Curtis film The Defiant ones that saw two men, one black and one white, overlook their prejudices and work together in order to escape prison. However, in Black Mama, White Mama, Grier and Markov don’t just escape, they flourish and right some wrongs. I really don’t know how much of this was intentional or serendipitous but the fact remains that Black Mama, White Mama is a more prestigious Exploitation film and in another league than the other women in prison films.