This film start with a video footage of a bunch of people talking about drug, and President Reagan having speech scene! As turnout, this film is about a bunch of people talking about the source of cocaine, the cocaine dealer, the problem cause by cocaine, how to overcome cocaine problem, and the conspiracy of government using cocaine! Entire film full of annoying overuse scene! Such as, overuse of the interview scene, overuse of the rapping scene, and overuse of the archive video footage scene! Make the film unwatchable! Barely laughable scene is, a woman talking you will even copulate at rooftop for cocaine! At the end, an article indicate the war on drugs has cost the US nearly 1 trillion dollars! That's it! Another disappointed film!

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

As the 1980's dawned, president Ronald Reagan ushered in a new age of free market capitalism that allowed some to live the high life, and brought about a new sense of optimism. On the other end of the scale, others were plunged in to destitution and poverty, most notably in the dispossessed African American community. While the rich revelled in the 'status' afforded from powder cocaine, the inner cities were plunged in to an epidemic of the smokable 'crack' version of the drug, which saw an explosion of gang warfare, heavy police enforcement and disproportionate sentencing in crack/powder offences. A host of talking heads, including dealers, users and commentators, share their experiences and insight on the times, and their wider impact on the present day.

Netflix are certainly doing a number lately on documentaries, highlighting subcultural events that took place during the 1980's and 1990's, and director Stanley Nelson's depiction of the crack epidemic is thankfully one of the more digestible ones that contains itself within an hour and a half, rather than sprawling out over a whole series. It shines a light on what could well have been quite a personal tale for him, covering some no doubt harrowing tales, but sadly never with the impact it could have had.

Considering the raw, edgy ground it's covering, somehow the tone comes off a little too light and fluffy, with too soft an edge to really give it the kick it needs. There can be no doubt it's also covering ground that's already been explored quite well before, about the Iran/Contra war and the CIA funnelling drug money to fund the operation, that the journalist Gary Webb exposed. Some reviewers feel aggrieved that it seems to be a 'blame the white man' piece, and the black community not accepting personal responsibility, but considering how we now know how crack cocaine was placed among them and why, there is a legitimate grievance.

As well as covering familiar ground, some familiar faces pop up as well, such as Professor Carl Hart, the neuroscientist and activist, whose face rings a bell from 2012's The House I Live In, providing similar food for thought, but in a far less original, thought provoking or impactful film. ***

And other stuff of course. Now certain things I was aware of, through other movies or reading material. Still the movie does concentrate on the one drug that seemed to have change a lot in the landscape. Not just psychologically for the users, but also the ones fighting against it. Not to mention it was used as excuse to set up certain areas and keep certain people down. Now that is something real and not some made up conspiracy that someone came up with ... like that Q-Anon madness one reads nowadays.

Maybe those Q people do certain drugs? It would explain a lot. Really a lot - still it would be tough to follow their thinking but at least we'd understand how they got there. But back to this and a really interesting and informative documentary about a drug that destroyed a lot of peoples life ... and how it became such a strong force - and how that was used politically - by both parties by the way! So while maybe one is more to blame than the other, there's enough guilt to go around for all of them ...