Being a person who’s been keen on learning more about drugs, its use and effects, I had to watch this movie. I heard about this movie through a few friends which made it seems like it was some stereo-typical drug movie full of violence and action. (Like your modern day action movies!!) So finally after getting my messed up computer fixed, I began downloading this movie. Two days and I finally get the chance to see it.
First off let me list out the cast of this movie - Ellen Burstyn as Sara Goldfarb, Jared Leto as Harry Goldfarb, Jennifer Connely as Marion Silver and Marlon Wayans as Tyrone Love. Now this movie shows you two types on drug abuse, one being Cocaine and the other which is MDMA aka ecstacy.
MDMA - Let me just give you the basics of MDMA for all who don’t know what I’m talking about. MDMA or ’ecstasy’ is a ’psychedelic amphetamine’ which has the ability to produce strong feelings of comfort, empathy, and connection to others. The main effect ecstacy has on a user is it makes you hyperactive. Now with connection to the movie, Sara is a TV addict and is constantly watching a TV show which she is addicted to. She gets a call one day saying she has the chance to be on TV and goes ballistic at the thought of not being ’fit’ enough to appear on TV. She wants to be thin enough to wear a red dress she had once worn for her son’s graduation day. She visits a local doctor who gives her a set of pills to take 4 times a day. Now these pills make here energetic and keep her on the move. She passes her day doing house work and chores until its time to watch her favorite shows. Daily usage of this drug is spoiling her health quickly but also making her lose weigh rapidly. Her ’trips’ so they are called start turning into paranoia. She knows she can’t dig into the fridge and eat food because she wants to keep up the weight loss. You can constantly see her symptoms of teeth grinding and exhaustion at the end of the day. The last pill she takes is a sleeping pill which knocks her off. Taking drugs that keep you hyper and taking drugs to keep your mind from being hyper is potentially harmful to the mind and she goes crazy. She’s admitted into a hospital, force fed which makes no difference and is finally put through shock therapy!
Cocaine - Cocaine is a naturally derived stimulant extracted and refined from the Coca plant grown primarily in the Andean region of South America. Cocaine is typically a white-ish powder with a bitter, numbing taste. It is most often snorted, though it can also be injected and used orally. Harry, Marione and Tyrone are cocaine addicts. They do things like sell their TV sets or as Marion does in the movie, sell her body for cocaine. Tyrone and Harry are regular buyers of cocaine and come across a sweet deal of selling cocaine and making good money. They begin to get into the whole trade and see the really dark side of this addiction. Cocaine makes the body yearn for something, something unexplainable and they soon realize what they need is more cocaine! They show some crazy visual effects of how they consume it and what they feel during their trip. Now they come to a point where they want to start selling it and making money. It starts off well and they make a lot of money until a major shoot out takes place and the cops catch Harry. By this time, Harry suffers from major withdrawal symptoms. His arm, where he used to inject cocaine has become infected and none of the officers pay attention until there is a check up and he’s sent to the hospital. He’s taken to a hospital and his hand is amputated. Marion on the other hand goes crazy without being able to yearn her thirst for cocaine and ends up at a dealer who in turn strikes a deal with her to give him sexual favors. She ends up also displaying sexual acts in a room full of men and is given cocaine.
This movie is indeed disturbing and explains what mind altering substances do to you when they are misused. Each character has played their role remarkably and you can tell that they’ve really researched their roles. This is by means the most eye opening movie ever and could be a true story for any person out there.