Best Movies about War on drugs

Movies about War on drugs

These brilliant films offer new insight into the marijuana debate currently taking center stage

By Jeremy Daw

Publikováno 17. února 2014 1:00 (EST)

In the past year there has been an explosion of films that dare to intelligently explore the U.S. drug war. Spurred by the rapid reform of cannabis policy, pot is increasingly becoming a centerpiece of American culture.

Out of the dozens of drug war films produced last year, these four stand above the rest, not just because of their technical excellence, but for their potential to provoke thoughtful debate on a subject of mindboggling complexity. Fortunately, each of these films is also engaging—even fun, at times—so that viewers don’t have to choose between enriching their minds and enjoying themselves. Here’s why you should set aside the bong, power up the TV and watch these four extraordinary films.

1. Code of the West: Kodex Západu is a cerebral but accessible meditation on the drug war’s collateral damage. It gives an eye-level view of a single group of conscientious individuals who saw an urgent need for reform and stepped in to fill it.

Director Rebecca Richman Cohen, a graduate of Harvard Law School, brings plenty of intellectual firepower to bear on the complex machine of state politics. She summarizes the complexity of the American federal justice system in a way that clearly visualizes the stakes involved. She makes the law real for the viewer. Had she stopped there, her film would have been a wonderfully illuminating educational video… that no one wanted to watch. Thankfully, she used her understanding of a complex system as a springboard to jump in two simultaneous directions—one a gripping human tale, and the other a transcendent examination of power’s corruption.

The gripping human tale is one in which Cohen skillfully blends policy with pathos. She counterbalances explications of drug war policies with fascinating character studies. The documentary’s narrative focuses on the founders of Montana Cannabis, a compassion-driven medical marijuana collective in Cohen’s Big Sky country backyard. Founders Tom Daubert, Chris Williams and Richard Flor witnessed the demand among sick Montanans to use medical marijuana and thought they could put together a more legitimate operation than some of the dispensaries that cropped up around the state after its voters approved a medical marijuana initiative in 2004.

They did everything they could to produce a professional, legal operation, even inviting local law enforcement to tour their facility. What happened to them, in the wake of a sudden and dramatic political shift, is nothing short of tragic.

To je, jak Kodex Západu finds its truly transcendent narrative – by balancing its human story and its deep legal understanding with a third story, one even more profound than the first two: the story of the lure of power. The forces that targeted Montana Cannabis and a dozen other dispensaries in a simultaneous sweep resulted from cold political calculation. While she focuses in on key political figures and holds them to account, Cohen reserves her harshest indictment for the political system itself, a vicious and calculating game which pays the wages of cruelty with a momentary bump in the polls.

[Note: While originally premiering at South by Southwest in 2012,Kodex Západuwas rereleased in 2013 with updated reporting on the fates of the founders of Montana Cannabis.]

2. The House I Live In: Co Kodex Západu achieves on an intimate scale, House I Live In attains writ large. Director Eugene Jarecki—whose talent for intelligent yet sustainably outraged documentaries was proven with the anti-war screed Proč bojujemein 2005—pivots his lens from the military-industrial complex to the machinations of an equally corrupt war fought at home, in neighborhoods and on street corners: the drug war.

Like Cohen, Jarecki makes use of human character studies to make complex policy real; but whereas Cohen’s film offers complete, fleshed-out portraits of a single tight-knit group, Jarecki teases the viewer with brief humanizing vignettes, offering tantalizing glimpses of humanity across a wide spectrum of Americans, both rich and poor, white and black, cop and criminal. That the film keeps all of the characters distinct and relatable while simultaneously offering up a cogent critique of the U.S. war on drugs makes for a remarkable achievement.

House I Live In leans heavily on interviews with top academics like Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree and savvy commentators like “The Wire” creator David Simon. Yet this film is unique for the way it subtly perforates the structural wall between studied human subject matter and the talking head commentators who traditionally provide context.

Blasé cops are the objects of the film in the same way savannah lions are the objects of nature documentaries. It’s the cops who spout some of the most profound critiques of the 50-year-old war on drugs. Of course they would: they’re on the front lines. Even so, the most brilliant example of the film’s playful flouting of genre convention comes through its treatment of Carl Hart who, as a tenured neuroscientist at Columbia University has as legitimate a claim to the mantle of expert as any other of the film’s interviewees. But in sharp contrast to the soft chiaroscuro glow used to signify the film’s brain trust, Hart is lit exclusively in a harsh fluorescent.

Just as powerful is what the film doesn’t show. A reformed drug dealer who grew up on the streets of New York reminisces with regret on a Florida beach as the sun sets behind him. He had to leave because the drugs and the lifestyle constantly haunted him, always luring him back into the trap. The only way he could escape the pattern, he says, was to leave the state and start again. But now the son he left behind has been arrested for dealing drugs.

The film shows his regret and feelings of guilt, but far more engaging are the questions which are never answered with certainty. Did he really have to leave New York? Did he do all he could to deter his son from turning to drugs? Those questions linger longer than the sometimes simplistic prescriptions of experts.

3. How to Make Money Selling Drugs: At first, Jak vydělat peníze prodejem drog appears patently absurd in its self-importance: with the aesthetics of a corporate training video, the film announces its intent to share with viewers the insider secrets eager entrepreneurs need in order to, well, make money selling drugs.

But following a structure similar to the standard street dealer’s soft sell, this film delivers its first pleasures on easy terms but jacks up the social conscience as soon as viewers are hooked.

The first surprise comes almost right away, once the viewer realizes that the film takes its promise literally, describing in fetishistic detail every skill and trick any Joe on the street could use to become a drug kingpin.

The next, and far more satisfying surprise comes as viewers gradually realize the ways the film delivers a nuanced examination of the drug war’s daily effects on society. These are hints slipped in by sleight of hand between biting satire and gangster consumption porn.

Winding its way up the cartel ladder, the film’s director manages to finagle interviews with workers at almost every level of the international illicit drug industry (although between interviews with street dealers and mules, kingpins like “El Chapo” Guzman remain conspicuously absent).

As it happens, every single interviewee is a man, which either reflects the male-dominated nature of a shadowy industry or a marketing decision by the film’s producers, who appear to aim their cheesy, video game-inspired visuals at the vicarious pleasure centers of privileged teenage boys (R rating be damned).

Some of the film’s message can be subversive, bordering on irresponsible. For instance, one of the interviewees (a white, middle-class teen right out of high school) outlines his business plan for supplying his bored classmates with ecstasy at private house parties.

As if to temper the impact of these moviemaking sins, the film also takes care, eventually, to reveal the consequences of making money selling drugs, as each drug dealer interviewed (with the exception of an unidentified, still-active street dealer in Detroit) gets around to telling the story of how he got caught. Informants usually (“someone turned me in”). Occasionally the story gets more gruesome, as when a former dealer lifts up his shirt to show the scars from the time he was machine-gunned at the end of a deal gone bad.

Such moments are powerful. But more powerful still is the lynchpin moment when the viewer grasps that not all of the former defendants in the criminal justice system were treated the same. Some had lighter skin, leading to lighter sentences. Some simply had more money, leading to no consequences at all. The revelation, never overdone, holds open the hope that the teenage boys illegally downloading the film might grasp the zenith of the film’s subversiveness, and begin agitating for change.

4. Dallas Buyers Club:Although not technically a documentary, the masterful Klub kupců Dallasu nonetheless makes the list for its ability to convey the complex policy behind the true story that inspired it. It’s worth the watch merely as entertainment, but it also asks a provocative line of uncomfortable drug policy questions.

An entire essay could be devoted to Matthew McConaughey’s performance, which fleshes out a complete character by convincingly transitioning between every practiced mask his character displays to the world. But he also never fails to betray the still-acrid emotional traumas those masks are created to hide—the desperate, silent scream for help.

Not even Jared Leto, who nimbly handles every stumble of a drug-addicted transvestite on her way to rock bottom, can hope to keep up.

The film’s most lingering delight is its courage to stare directly into the headlights of pernicious policy problems and refuse to blink. The putative villains of the film, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, work tirelessly to keep life-extending AIDS drugs out of the hands of dying patients because, they claim, the manufacturers of those drugs have not submitted them to the required clinical trials to determine safety and efficacy. True enough, but in the face of desperate patients living on borrowed time, such claims ring hollow.

The film’s fearless screenplay dares to explore FDA policy from all sides, showing the natural ambiguities behind every apparent injustice. Yes, people are dying while waiting for the required trials to run on AIDS medications; some, seeking a lifeline, sign up for the required trials only to receive a placebo. The outcome is a death sentence, but without the placebos, how will scientists know for sure which drugs are working? Without such knowledge, how will researchers build on any successes to design the next generation of drugs? The film daringly dangles such troubling questions, withholding the moral placebos of easy answers.

One of the drugs undergoing testing—the one promoted by the greedy pharmaceutical company—turns out to be toxic. The hospital, chasing the lucrative study dollars on offer, stubbornly continues the program at the expense of the suffering stricken. A heartless move, but by the end of the film the viewer has learned that the valuable data gained from the study allowed researchers to tweak the dose and develop new cocktails which yield far better patient outcomes.

Does a positive outcome vindicate the infliction of suffering in the name of science? Are the needs of future generations of AIDS patients preeminent over the needs of those afflicted today? Each viewer must answer in her own way, according to her own values. These questions, paired with a ubiquitous but never blatant double standard between alcohol and cocaine, nag at the conscience. At a time when ideologues of every stripe repeat absolutist platitudes against both illicit drugs and the laws written to control them, such nuance constitutes an urgent public service.

13 Military Movies about Vietnam, Crime and Drugs

The Vietnam War and the French Indochina War were not only battles fought on the military front but also fertile ground for the growth of organized crime in Saigon. These conflicts created an environment of political instability, corruption, and opportunism that allowed criminal syndicates to flourish. French Indochina War (1946-1954) laid the foundation for organized crime’s emergence in Saigon. During this period, Vietnam was a French colony, and the war between the French colonial forces and the Vietnamese independence movement, led by Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Minh, created an atmosphere of unrest. Illegal activities such as smuggling, black market trading, and opium trafficking became prevalent, as various factions sought to exploit the war’s instability for their own gain. Criminal organizations, such as the Binh Xuyen established their influence and power during this time.

The Vietnam War (1955-1975) escalated the situation, intensifying the conditions that allowed organized crime to thrive in Saigon. The influx of American troops, aid, and funds created opportunities for corruption and illicit activities. Criminal organizations expanded their operations, capitalizing on the presence of foreign military personnel and the vast amounts of money flowing into the city.

a. With the influx of American soldiers, organized crime groups engaged in protection rackets, extorting money from businesses and establishments. They also controlled the prostitution trade, exploiting the demand created by the military presence. These activities provided criminal organizations with significant financial resources and power.

b. The Vietnam War also saw a rise in drug trafficking, particularly heroin. The Golden Triangle region, encompassing parts of Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand, became a major source of opium and heroin production. Criminal syndicates in Saigon played a significant role in smuggling and distributing these narcotics, further fueling the cycle of addiction and crime.

c. Corruption was rampant, with government officials and military personnel involved in various illegal activities. Black market trading thrived, involving goods such as weapons, contraband, and stolen military supplies. This illicit economy further eroded the stability of the city and fueled the influence of organized crime groups.

The legacy of organized crime in Saigon during the Vietnam War continues to cast a long shadow. The extensive network and power amassed by criminal organizations had a lasting impact on the city’s social fabric. It fostered a culture of corruption, lawlessness, and violence that took years to address after the war’s end. Here are a few movies about Vietnam, the Vietnam War and Drugs & Crime.

1. “The Deer Hunter” (1978): Directed by Michael Cimino, “The Deer Hunter” is a powerful portrayal of the Vietnam War and its profound psychological impact on a group of friends from a small Pennsylvania town. The film delves into the traumatic experiences faced by the characters during their capture by the Viet Cong. After returning home, one of the soldiers, played by Christopher Walken, becomes entangled in the heroin trade, highlighting the allure and destructive consequences of drug addiction.
2. “Jacob’s Ladder” (1990): “Jacob’s Ladder,” directed by Adrian Lyne, offers a surreal and nightmarish depiction of the Vietnam War’s psychological toll on a former soldier, played by Tim Robbins. The film weaves together elements of war, trauma, and hallucinatory experiences. While not explicitly focused on heroin, the movie explores the concept of mind-altering substances as a means to cope with the psychological scars of war, highlighting the distorted reality faced by many veterans.
3. “American Gangster” (2007): While not directly centered on the Vietnam War, “American Gangster” directed by Ridley Scott, provides a glimpse into the heroin trade and its connections to the conflict. The film, based on a true story, follows the rise of Frank Lucas, portrayed by Denzel Washington, who becomes a powerful drug lord smuggling heroin from Vietnam into the United States. It offers a glimpse into the dark underbelly of the drug trade and its ties to the war, showcasing the far-reaching consequences of the conflict.
4. “Air America” (1990): Directed by Roger Spottiswoode, “Air America” takes a more comedic approach to the Vietnam War and the drug trade. Starring Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr., the film follows the adventures of two pilots working for a CIA front organization involved in smuggling drugs out of Laos. While lighthearted in tone, the movie touches upon the illicit activities and corruption that existed during the war, including the transportation of narcotics.
5. “Apocalypse Now” (1979): Francis Ford Coppola’s magnum opus, “Apocalypse Now,” is a cinematic masterpiece that takes viewers deep into the heart of darkness during the Vietnam War. While not solely focused on drugs, the film portrays the surreal and mind-altering effects of the war on the soldiers. From the infamous “Charlie Don’t Surf” scene to encounters with a drug-crazed military outpost, “Apocalypse Now” captures the drug culture prevalent among some soldiers during the war, highlighting the disorienting and dehumanizing aspects of combat.
6. “Full Metal Jacket” (1987): Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket” provides a stark and unflinching portrayal of the Vietnam War and its impact on soldiers. The film explores the brutal training process at Parris Island and the subsequent deployment to Vietnam. While drugs play a relatively minor role, they are depicted as a coping mechanism for some soldiers, offering an escape from the horrors of war. The character of Private Joker, played by Matthew Modine, encounters fellow Marines who use drugs as a means of psychological refuge.
7. “Platoon” (1986): Oliver Stone’s semi-autobiographical film, “Platoon,” delves into the morally and psychologically ambiguous world of the Vietnam War. While drugs are not the central focus, they are integral to the depiction of soldiers’ attempts to cope with the harrowing realities of combat. The film highlights the prevalence of drug use within the military ranks, illustrating how it became a coping mechanism and a way to escape the brutality of war. The characters of Bunny, played by Kevin Dillon, and King, played by Keith David, embody this aspect of the war, portraying soldiers who turn to drugs to cope with the stress and trauma.
8. “Off Limits” (1988): Directed by Christopher Crowe, “Off Limits” takes audiences to the gritty streets of 1968 Saigon, against the backdrop of the Vietnam War. Starring Willem Dafoe and Gregory Hines, the film follows two military police detectives investigating a series of brutal murders. As they delve deeper into the investigation, they uncover a web of corruption and conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of the military hierarchy. “Off Limits” offers a dark and suspenseful narrative, highlighting the moral ambiguities and challenges faced by those tasked with maintaining law and order in a war-torn environment. The chemistry between Dafoe and Hines adds depth to their characters, adding a layer of camaraderie amidst the chaos.
9. “Born on the Fourth of July” (1989): Oliver Stone’s “Born on the Fourth of July” provides a different perspective on the Vietnam War, exploring the journey of Ron Kovic, a Marine Corps veteran portrayed by Tom Cruise. The film depicts Kovic’s descent into drug use following his traumatic experience in Vietnam, highlighting the psychological toll of war and the subsequent struggle with addiction upon returning home. It sheds light on the impact of the war on the lives of veterans, including their struggles with substance abuse as they grapple with physical and emotional trauma.
10. “Casualties of War” (1989): Directed by Brian De Palma, “Casualties of War” tells the harrowing true story of a group of American soldiers who abduct, rape, and murder a Vietnamese girl. While the film primarily focuses on the moral and ethical implications of war, it also highlights the smuggling of contraband, specifically drugs, by soldiers. This subplot underscores the moral decay and corruption that can arise in the chaos of war, shining a light on the darker aspects of human nature.
11. “The Siege of Firebase Gloria” (1989): Set during the Vietnam War, “The Siege of Firebase Gloria,” directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith, offers an intense and gritty portrayal of a group of American soldiers under siege by the Viet Cong. The film incorporates a subplot involving the smuggling of weapons and supplies, showcasing the resourcefulness and ingenuity of soldiers trying to gain an advantage in the conflict. It underscores the desperation and necessity of smuggling in a war-ravaged environment.
12. “Tigerland” (2000): Directed by Joel Schumacher, “Tigerland” explores the experiences of soldiers undergoing intense training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, during the Vietnam War. While not directly set in Vietnam, the film portrays the pervasive smuggling culture among soldiers preparing for deployment. It touches on the black market trading and smuggling of various goods, such as alcohol and contraband items, revealing the underground economy that existed even before soldiers set foot in the war zone.
13. “The Air Up There” (1994): “The Air Up There,” directed by Paul Michael Glaser, takes a more lighthearted approach to the Vietnam War and smuggling. The film follows a college basketball coach, played by Kevin Bacon, who travels to a remote village in Africa to recruit a talented player. However, the storyline incorporates a subplot involving the smuggling of valuable minerals and the challenges faced by those trying to exploit the region’s resources. Though not directly connected to the Vietnam War, the film touches on the theme of smuggling and its impact on local communities.

5 Movies to Help You Understand The U.S. Mexico Drug War

Here are five informative movies that will prepare you for the extreme nature of Villeneuve’s new film SICARIO.

As the lead characters in director Denis Villeneuve’s new thriller Hitman cross over the border from El Paso, Texas to Juarez, Mexico, they are immediately transported into a cruel and disturbing world. Hanging from rope on an overpass are human bodies that have been mutilated by members of drug cartels who rule the border town with an iron fist. “Welcome to Juarez,” Benicio del Toro’s character Alejandro tells the carload of law enforcement he is traveling with as they look out their vehicle’s window and realize what evil they are up against.

When it comes to creating a nightmarish atmosphere to show what Mexico is experiencing under the control of the cartels, Hitman is second to none. It’s an unforgiving look at the horrors of the drug war and, in this case, the men and lone woman (Emily Blunt) who journey into the darkest corners to stop an unrelenting force.

Not sure you understand the reality of the U.S.-Mexico drug war? Here are five informative films that will provide context on the horrors of Hitman.

1. Kartelová země, 2015
Dir. Matthew Heineman

This critically acclaimed documentary film, which screened at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival and won two awards at this year’s Sundance Film Festival (Cinematography Award and Directing Award), transports audiences to the center of the drug war where a Mexican vigilante group has taken it upon themselves to fight against the cartels who use intimidation to instill fear into their own people. Director Heineman also follows an American paramilitary group based in Arizona whose sole purpose is to stop immigrants from crossing the border into the U.S. Embedded into the battle, Heineman gets full access to the internal issues within the groups and exposes where the line between alliances begins to blur. Kartelová země exposes the frustration found on both sides of the border by citizens who want more safety offered by their government. The film forces us to asks the questions of whether or not real transformation can happen with the level of corruption taking place.

2. Království stínů, 2015
Dir. Bernardo Ruiz

The U.S.-Mexico drug war is highlighted in this documentary featuring three individuals from different walks of life who have experienced the drug war from unique perspectives – a nun and human rights defender from Monterrey fighting her government to protect its citizens; an Anglo Texas rancher who became a drug smuggler in the 1980s; and a border patrol agent from El Paso whose undocumented parents raised him in the U.S. “With this film I wanted to go deeper,” Ruiz told TribecaFilm.com during an interview. “I wanted to create a chorus of voices and make a film where I could bring together people who might not normally be in a film.” Království stínů puts a real face to the men and women who are fighting for justice and are not afraid to stand up for what they believe will keep their families safe. There is a hopefulness in Stíny that allows audiences to believe that speaking out will make a difference.

3. Narco Cultura, 2013
Dir. Shaul Schwarz

As frightening as Hitman makes narco traffickers and drug kingpins seem, this documentary film, which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, features the celebrity-outlaw side of these groups who are praised through the country’s music and pop culture. Director Shwarz tells the story from the perspective of two men: a musician who is connected to the cartels and writes traditional narcocorridos, polka-inspired songs that celebrate the drug dealers, and a Mexican crime scene investigator who some call a “bullet collector” since none of the work he ever does leads to the conviction of any cartel members. Narco Cultura is an intense look into how the drug war has taken over the realm of pop culture in both Mexico and the U.S. and what it means as a society to find entertainment value in things that glorify cartel violence. Schwarz asks tough questions and allows audiences come to their own conclusions by offering a very balanced documentary with fascinating facts.

4. Maria plná milosti, 2004
Dir. Joshua Marston

Nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award in 2004 for her role in this fascinating drama, actress Catalina Sandino Moreno stars as Maria Alvarez, a 17-year-old girl living in Colombia who is lured into the underground world of drug trafficking when she learns about how lucrative the job can be for someone like her. Her responsibility: to become a drug “mule” by swallowing small baggies filled with drugs and transporting them inside her body into the U.S. by airplane. When things take a turn for the worse, Maria is forced to make a decision that angers the drug dealers waiting for her to deliver the supply. Maria plná milosti puts a face to the issue of drug trafficking with Moreno’s character taking charge of her own decisions and living with those consequences. As the title character, Moreno brings strength to the role and proves that even the innocent can be tempted by the power of drugs.

5. Provoz, 2000
Dir. Steven Soderbergh

Winner of the 2000 Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor (Benicio del Toro), Soderbergh’s masterpiece is a multilayered crime drama set in the U.S. and Mexico where the drug war affects the lives of everyone from a high-profile government official (Michael Douglas) to the wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and son of a high-ranking drug trafficker. Oscar-winner Del Toro stars as Javier Rodriguez, a Mexican police officer who is trying to bring down the most dangerous members of a Tijuana cartel. Traffic is a realistic and hard-hitting portrait that shows just how many people can be involved in some way with the drug trade. While there is some hopefulness to the narrative in certain instances, director Soderbergh never softens the storylines. People die frequently and families are changed forever.

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