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Credits

Director: Jamaa Fanaka Starring: Marlo Monte, Reatha Grey, Stan Kamber, Tiffany Peters Music: William Anderson, Jamaa Fanaka Writer: Jamaa Fanaka Country: USA AKA: Welcome Home Brother Charles

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Charles, played by Marlo Monte, is a small–time dope dealer who gets on the wrong side of a racist cop who attempts to castrate him. He finds himself in prison after he is deserted by his friends and ends up serving three years in solitary confinement before he is granted parole. On his return he tries to start up a normal life but once a criminal, you are always treated like a criminal. At his lowest ebb he spies one of the cops who did him wrong on the television and begins to make his plans for revenge. His vengeance is where the film goes haywire. As Charles recovers from his injury, his manhood takes on a life of its own. He seduces the partners of the cops who did him wrong and before you can say, "Once you've gone black, you never go back" the cops wives are completely under his beck and call, helping Charles unleash his beast and strangle his enemies.

The pace is laboured to say the least and many will find the film's endless dialogue a drag if they are purely waiting for the 'good stuff.' The interesting thing about the film, however, is the gritty, realistic approach Fanaka takes for the bulk of the film's running length. He uses non-actors as extras to enhance the atmosphere and the naturalistic style of acting doesn't give any hint of what's to come. But when Charles' member begins to make its way towards his enemies' throats, all illusion towards realism is well and truly out of the window.