Monday, October 29, 2012
Film 'A Holocaust in Slow Motion': The House I Live In Takes on the War on Drugs
Posted by Jim Ridley on Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 5:02 AM
Like watching meat fed into a meat grinder — that's how one interview subject characterizes the War on Drugs in The House I Live In, the acclaimed new documentary by Why We Fight director Eugene Jarecki. It plays just twice more at The Belcourt as the "Doctober" series nears its end: 3:40 p.m. today and 4:30 p.m. tomorrow. From the theater's website:
WHY WE FIGHT director Eugene Jarecki shifts his focus from the military industrial complex to the War on Drugs in this documentary exploring the risks that prohibition poses to freedom, and the tragedy of addicts being treated as criminals. In the four decades since the War on Drugs commenced, over 45 millions of addicts have been arrested — and for each one jailed, another family is destroyed. Meanwhile, the prisons in America are growing overcrowded with non-violent criminals, and illegal drugs are still being sold in schoolyards. By examining just where it all went wrong, Jarecki reveals that a solution is possible if we can just find it in ourselves to be compassionate, and see past the decades of paranoia and propaganda.“A ballsy mix of interviews and editorializing that's daring enough to question a costly crackdown that has long had the public's support.” — Peter Debruge, Variety
Also today, after the 3:40 p.m. screening of the outstanding ACT UP doc How to Survive a Plague, The Belcourt will host a post-film discussion featuring assistant director Dr. JuLeigh Petty and director of undergraduate studies Dr. Courtney Muse from Vanderbilt's Center for Medicine, Health and Society.
