Director: Eugene Jarecki
Featuring: Eugene Jarecki, Nannie Jeter, various scholars and interviewees
Synopsis: A feature-length documentary focusing on the United States attitude towards drugs, drug culture and what happens to users who are sent to prison. Is the ‘drug war’ actually having any effect, or is it all just talk?
According to THE HOUSE I LIVE IN, the United States is home to only 5% of the world’s entire population, but holds 25% of its prisoners. I’ll let that sink in for a moment.
Produced by the likes of Brad Pitt, Danny Glover and Russell Simmons, THE HOUSE I LIVE IN loosely follows the lead up to the 2008 elections and how America’s war on drugs is not making the impact it was supposed to. We follow the lives of various drug addicts and dealers (some already in prison, others still walking the streets), people involved in the judicial system, researchers and activists, all linked to one of the biggest money-making businesses in the US.
Jarecki begins his journey by visiting his family’s old housemaid Nannie Jeter, whose own son died of drugs-related AIDS ‘in 1989 or 1987, I can’t quite remember’. With such a personal and emotional beginning, Nannie and Jarecki attend the funeral of a family friend who also died due to drug use. From there we’re thrown directly into the path of the never-ending debate on drugs and how the government doesn’t seem to be attending to the issue with the right attention. Consisting of various interviews with different people affected by this worldwide problem, the main message of the documentary is ‘the government is doing it wrong’. From analysis of the judicial and prison system (we see one gentlemen be given an estimated sentence of between 5 and 40 years for possession) to the early propaganda produced to alienate the public against using narcotics, THE HOUSE I LIVE IN very much attacks the US government’s ideals and actions taken so far in trying to fight this (seemingly) unwinnable fight.
Although heavy on the facts and figures, the documentary also plays on the emotional side of things by including interviews with former drug addicts, prisoners and their families. The air of regret and ‘I wish I could go back in time’ is rife throughout, especially considering how long some of the jail sentences turn out to be (another gentlemen is given a life sentence plus thirty years for solely dealing, but never having used drugs himself). Everyone involved in the making of the film seems to have been touched by narcotics in some way over their lives, giving the entire film a huge sense of sadness, as it’s portrayed that this ‘business’ is something you can’t avoid.
The final statements made by the film question whether anything has changed since the beginning of the ‘war’ and if Obama will be able to do anything to improve the situation (the final shots see him elected into office for the first time). We’re also left wondering whether we could ever deem drug culture as ‘successful’, especially with the amount of money which is made by millions of people every year…and a lot of them aren’t even users. THE HOUSE I LIVE IN is a compelling film, opening your eyes to something many only see underground.
THE HOUSE I LIVE IN is available to pre-order now for release on February 11th.
