ANIMAL FACTORY, THE (director: Steve Buscemi; screenwriter: from
novel by Edward Bunker; cinematographer: Phil Parmet; editor:
Kate Williams; cast: Willem Dafoe (Earl Copen), Edward Furlong
(Ron Decker), Seymour Cassel (Lt. Seeman), Mickey Rourke (Jan
the actress), Jake La Botz (Jessie), Danny Trejo (Vito), Tom
Arnold (Buck), Steve Buscemi (Warden); Runtime: 90; Franchise
Pictures/Industry Entertainment; 2000)  "The prison atmosphere
of constant danger was fully captured..."  Reviewed by Dennis
Schwartz  Ron Decker (Furlong) is a small time dealer in
marijuana, but he gets severely sentenced to a term of five
years when apprehended. He is thrown into a hardened prison
environment, where gangs are broken down according to ethnic
groups: black, Puerto Rican, or white. For his protection the
soft suburban kid luckily gets the help of the white gang
leader, Earl Copen (Dafoe).  The question raised is whether the
political climate is so paranoid that it doesn't understand the
difference between violent criminals a