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Video
Reviews
The
Cider House Rules
Directed
by Lasse Hallstrom
The
prevalence of illicit drugs in society has given rise
to a proliferation of films containing aspects of
the drug culture. Following the end of the Cold War,
spies from behind the Iron Curtain have been replaced
by drug barons, particularly hot-blooded Latinos and
sleazy drug dealers. Most of these films exploit this
scourge of modern society. Hollywood loves and nurtures
the obvious villain so that cliches and stereotypes
become adopted as fact. Every now and then a film
comes out that does not exploit, or glorify, or demonise,
or distort drugs, the drug culture or people involved
in drugs. One such film is The Cider House Rules
for which Michael Cain won an Academy Award.
Lasse
Hallstrom (of My Life as a Dog fame) directed
this quietly subversive film with a gentle hand. The
themes of longing, unwanted children, abortion, incest
and drug addiction are all dealt with in an unsensational
manner. In places, the film is a little twee, coyly
whimsical, but this American tendency (even though
the director is Danish) is offset by the deeper issues
calmly addressed and the sensitive, understated performances
of the actors.
Another
Day in Paradise
Directed
by Larry Clark
Based
on the novel by Eddie Little, Another Day in Paradise
does exploit the drug culture, despite the strong
performances from Melanie Griffith, James Wood, Vincent
Kartheiser and Natasha Gregson Wagner.
Whereas
the novel allows an inside look into the mind of a
young addict criminal, the film slides from one violent
episode to the next. The balance of the book is nowhere
evident in the celluloid adaptation, the gratuitous
violence begging the questions: Why turn a good book
into a mediocre film? Why make the film at all?
I
feel Larry Clark has exploited drug addicts in Another
Day in Paradise the way he exploited young people
in his previous film Kids.
Book
Reviews
Arrested
Development
The
Aaron Cohen Story
By
Paul Little
Publ:
Allen & Unwin
As
with film and TV, modern literature is saturated with
heroin stories. So, to justify publishing a new book,
there should be either a new angle or fresh insight
into drug addiction. One would expect the extraordinary
Aaron Cohen story to satisfy both new angle and fresh
insight criteria: born to drug addicted parents, grows
up with drugs and dealing as a part of life, becomes
addicted himself, accompanies his mother to Malaysia
for a drug run, gets caught, arrested and sentenced
to life imprisonment, released early from Malaysian
prison, now on methadone in New Zealand. Yet, the
book is written like a newspaper account, dispassionate
and detached. The reader is not taken into the souls
of the protagonists. There is no journey of understanding
either Aaron or his mother, what makes them tick or
what motivates them. We all know addicts are motivated
by their cravings, but it is the complications arising
from the other driving forces mixed in with the craving
force that makes individuals worth writing about.
However,
two chapters are an absolute knockout. The Aaron Cohen
story is interrupted by an essay on Heroin─A
Digression, arguing the case for controlled legislation.
It is a beautiful, insightful, informative description
of heroin and heroin addiction. The story continues
until interrupted once again by an essay on Methadone,
so informative and well written that it has been reproduced
in this month's heroInsight.
Huckstepp:
A dangerous life
by
John Dale
Publ:
Allen & Unwin
Released
around the same time as Arrested Development,
Huckstepp─A dangerous life, the Sallie-Annie
Huckstepp saga, is one man's obsession posing so many
new angles that he raises more questions than he answers.
I found myself becoming annoyed with the seeming manipulation
of facts to fit postulations.
Australian
Drugs Info File
From
Alcohol and Tobacco to Ecstasy and Heroin
by
Dr Miriam Stoppard
Publ:
Derling Kindersley
This
is an excellent handbook on drugs containing hard
facts, practical advice and life-saving survival tactics.
It is well set out with the concise information clear
and uncluttered.
Illegal
Leisure
The
normalisation of adolescent recreational drug use
by
Howard Parker, Judith Aldridge and Fiona Measham
Publ:
Routledge
In
Britain 50 percent of adolescents have tried illegal
drugs and 25 percent use them regularly. Illegal
Leisure is based on a five-year study following
typical young people who have grown up as the `chemical
generation'. It is an important study and I am sure
reflects what is happening here in Australia. To show
the cant of the book, here is an extract from the
Introduction:
Whilst
there have been several significant post-war drugs
arenas, ranging from `speeding' mods in the sixties
to `tripping' hippies during the seventies through
to a new wave of heroin users during the 1980s,
all these scenes involved atypical minority populations.
They were essentially subcultural drug scenes. However,
the 1990s have seen the emergence of something quite
unprecedented─ widespread drug use amongst
very large numbers of ordinary, conventional young
people. It is clear we need to understand this social
transformation in a very different way.
On
Drugs
by
David Lenson
Publ:
University of Minnesota Press
Finally
and briefly, On Drugs is a study of mood-altering
substances analysed from the user's point of view.
David Lenson, Professor of Comparative Literature
at the University of Massachusetts, ties in drug-taking
with consumerism and culture, and has written On
Drugs precisely to enhance a greater intellectual
understanding of those who take drugs. Not everyone's
cup of tea.
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