Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

Nonureva Really Surprised!

Steineded How sad is this?

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

JustCuriosity METH STORM was very well-received in its world premiere at Austin'S SXSW Film Festival. This is a powerful film about what addiction to this awful drug can do a family and a community - in this case, Faulkner County, Arkansas. The film makers spent a long time in the community and got to know some of the individuals well which allowed them to get remarkable and up close footage including film of people shooting up on meth. (This takes up well-beyond the romanticized and action-packed version of Meth seen on Breaking Bad.) While much of the blame for their bad choices can be placed on the individuals, it can also be blamed on the failures of government to provide these families jobs, educational opportunity, health care, and any sort of accessible drug treatment. The society has failed these families whose only real opportunity is the black market drug trade. The only governmental response is in law enforcement, but that seems to be utter and complete failure as well. The close-up view of the crisis is overwhelming. The mother tries to get her kids to quit drugs while failing to confront her own long-term addiction. The squalid conditions in which they live are heart-breaking. The ruined lives and the young kids that seem to have little more to look forward to are simply devastating to observe. The DEA agent attempts to arrest small-time dealers in hopes of breaking the drug ring and catching the Mexican source without seeming to realize that they are chasing shadows. They don't seem to realize that they can never win by prosecuting the demand side of the equation. This powerful film certainly raises more questions that it answers (much like the Michael Douglas film Traffic a generation ago). It has been picked up by HBO Films which should provide it with a well-deserved wider audience.

realityobserver If you have ever been in or through Arkansas, you will identify with this documentary immediately. The people I ran into while there were just like these white trash semi literate criminals portrayed in the film. The Veronica lady was a disgusting mess of a mother, the children of Veronica are disgusting messes of humans. As you watch the film, try to look around at the absolute mess of a house or trailer each of them live in. No one has cleaned these places in years, they are all too busy shooting the meth into their veins. They constantly cry about having no jobs but I don't see any of them looking for work either. I had to laugh at the scene were the old hag was searching on her phone for the law enforcements 'Operation Ice Storm' and she had the audacity to call them idiots (as she licks her lips for the thousandth time and slurs her words and her son Danny tells her to shut up). Let's play a game here - 'Spot The Idiot In This Film'. What I learned from this docu was STAY OUT OF ARKANSAS AT ALL COSTS !!!So no one actually ends up feeling sorry for these horrible people, and watching them waste away with meth is not making me teary eyed. These jerks got what they wanted when they started doing meth in the first place.2 stars for the docu because it was about totally senseless inbred idiots walking around acting all smart about one thing - meth. Filming was good, editing was OK, how the director and crew could stand to be around these people is beyond me, I could actually smell the stink from these trailers through my TV.

msgtmelton Hard hitting documentary exposing a lifestyle some of us are lucky enough to have avoided. The timeline of the documentary would have been easier to follow had dates been shown when scenes changed. It appear to have been filmed over at least a year but could have been more and some of the characters were never identified or explained. I am guessing the man who dies was Veronica's second husband and I had to watch it again to link the sickly man at the end was the same man shown looking much better earlier in the film. There is also a blond girl that shot up with Danial that was never identified and another girl, this time a young brunette, who was not identified. The documentary would be significantly better with just some dates and relationships of the characters were identified on screen. The documentary portrays the hopelessness of these people who live on welfare and food stamps and spend their time selling meth brought up from Mexico by the cartels to support their own habit. It also shows the DEA fighting a loosing battle to stop it.

lisargarza This gritty doc takes an unflinching view of the Meth addiction in central Arkansas. The opening scene of a violent car chase between an obvious addict and law enforcement officials is a good metaphor for the remainder of the movie: this is a horrific train wreck and try as you might, it's hard to look away. There are no winners here, no happy ending. But the film accurately portrays the problem from all sides. Users seem powerless to stop themselves or keep future generations from falling victim to the same evils. And drug enforcement agents have the best of intentions but are battling a ruthless enemy with limitless resources. I was confused by who's who in this film and could have used a few more titles along the way (e.g. "Teddy's third wife, Maria" or "2 months later...") And some of the editing erred on the slow side. But those are small potatoes next to the unfettered look inside the heart of a heart-breaking problem.