User Reviews

Moving from country to country in South America, reporting from across the drugs frontline and interviewing top-level international politicians this film exposes the human cost of one of the most popular drugs on the London streets.

This documentary covers so many grounds. I think it starts from a false premise (the idea that the war on drugs started in 1971 rather than decades earlier) but the areas it explores are incredible -- the farmers, the Mexican police, users in London... I think Americans hear a lot about the drug problems that arise between America and South America, but rarely hear how Europe factors in.

The "human cost" is important, because while American drug problems are worth worrying about, the effects on Mexicans and Bolivians and Colombians is also worth worrying about -- these are the folks who have gun battles in the streets over drug trafficking, whereas the streets of America are comparatively safe.

This documentary explores the negative consequences of the heavy-handed war on drugs - specifically the effects of the war on cocaine. It contrasts the two very different governmental policies of Columbia and Bolivia, explores the devastating consequences of the drug war (recounted by the people who suffer the violence as well as those in office), and paves the way for a new approach. There are first-hand accounts from government officials (spanning the Americas), policymakers, journalists in Juarez, farmers of the coca leaf, a seasoned cop in Baltimore, army/police personnel, social workers, etc. There are a lot of thought-provoking stories, images of the way other cultures live and work, and some beautiful footage of the natural landscapes in South America.

I set my DVR to watch this doc. It looked like it would be fantastic. I was not disappointed by the work filmed by Owen Scurfield. I was however shocked to see the laziness of the production values in post.

Forced to read every word in subtitles other than those in English I was so disappointed to be forced to stare every second at the screen.

Im a person that watches a lot of docs and enjoy every one of them. I know the work that goes into doing any project and would never even think of discounting or poorly reviewing someones work. I am honest in my reviews but I do appreciate the work.

I do not know who decided to subtitle all the words spoken. It could be said that the subtitles were so Spanish speakers could still hear the words being spoken. In that case the English spoken would be subtitled too.

It hurts me to give such a poor rating for this doc but the laziness and lack of thought going out to the viewer is shocking. My lady first told me "wait a while, they will start have someone interpret" She was shocked when they did not and even said she was tired of reading and wanted to just erase the doc.

I, and all other viewers should not be forced to read the whole doc. Why did you do a film then? Why didn't you do a table book and we could have read that.

Its sad that the hard work put in filming this was so overshadowed by this simple fix.

Shame on whoever made this decision. It took a fantastic and well thought out film and turned it into a tedious 2 hours of reading.

Shame on you for doing this. If you cannot afford to fix this I do offer my service to you for free to do the voice-over work. I would love to see this fixed, Owens images deserve it.

Christian Calloway www.IMDb.me/IamHollywoodHomeless