Review – American Drug War

Once again a documentary crushes itself under its own trendy weight. At heart this is an important piece of film-making. Director Kevin Booth makes many crucial points about the United States’ so-called war on drugs, providing clear evidence that the whole mess – from the laws themselves to the way they’re enforced – is little but a reprehensible attempt to re-institute slavery in this country. But then he saddles the story with a stiff coating of post-Michael-Moore nonsense. In particular, an excessive quantity of screen time is devoted to Booth’s personal problems, particularly the damage drugs and the war thereon have done to him and his friends. Further, some of the interviews are put together in ways that make their subjects sound crazy, even when they aren’t. Overall I admire the guts it took to make this movie. I just wish a bit more brain had been added to the mix. Mildly amusing