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There's a scene right at the end of episode three titled "Fran's Blues", where Charles S. Dutton is talking to Baltimore Police Officer Robert Brown (played by Brian O'Neill). Officer Brown says he's sad about how the neighbourhood has changed over the years due to drugs. "The rot started in the projects," Brown says, and then it "Just kept creeping uphill." Dutton asks Brown if he ever feels like he's wasting his time, given the number of people the city locks up every year only a fraction of who get "prison time". Brown doesn't seem to think so, replying that there are still good people in the neighbourhood, "Church people, working people", who want to see the drug scourge end. Duttom then asks Brown if he thinks the war on drugs will ever be won? There's a long pause. The officer looks everywhere but at the camera and, after what seems like an age, finally says: "No comment."
Fans of "The Wire" (of which this series is a very close relation) will also recall a scene where it's implied by one of the characters that the war on drugs isn't being fought with any conviction because if it was and was eventually won, well, then local politicians wouldn't have anything to campaign about, would they? And then let's not forget the very strong belief among social commentators and observers both black and white, that narcotic drugs were brought into the black community by the CIA to ensure black folk remained a permanent underclass. Why do I bring all this up? I bring it all this up because these are the issues that came up for me while watching this powerful series. More than anything else, I came away feeling amazed that we live in a society that has allowed such incredible suffering to go on, on such a massive scale, for so long.
The six-part series is very cleverly directed by Charles S. Dutton to look like it was part documentary and part drama with skilfully added in flashbacks. In just six one-hour episodes it explores a wide range of social issues such as urban deprivation, poverty, family breakdown and teenage pregnancy but the focus is really the psychology of drug addiction and the despair of people caught up in it, particularly the McCullough family: Dad Gary (played by T.K. Carter), Mom Fran (played by Khandi Alexander) and two sons DeAndre and DeRodd (played by Sean Nelson and Sylvester Lee Kirk respectively). The series poses a lot of interesting and crucial questions about the so-called war on drugs that so far, I haven't heard any real-life politicians seriously address. Ever.
The series is from the same brains behind similarly Baltimore-focused shows as "Homicide: Life on the Street" and of course "The Wire". I know a couple of Baltimore residents personally and while all fans of these shows, they do have mixed feelings about them. I can understand why. Other shows supposedly based in other cities like New York's "Law & Order", Los Angeles' "The Shield" or Las Vegas' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" are all very well produced, directed and acted, (not to mention popular world-wide), but they are also very obviously works of fiction. This crop of shows on the other hand are based on non-fiction books. "The Corner" is based on "The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood", a non-fiction book by David Simon and Edward Burns and "The Wire", though largely written by Simon and Burns, is based on the non-fiction book "The Wire: Truth Be Told" by Rafael Alvarez. Even "Homicide" was based on a non-fiction book. They are thus so very close to the truth of what life is like on the streets of Baltimore. Or so I'm told. I can understand how that could make some people uncomfortable. Almost like they and their city are being put under a microscope.
In any event, one question that never seems to get answered via any of these shows and always seems to get glossed over is why these people get into drugs in the first place. We're told that Fran lost her sister and turned to drugs to ease the pain but no more is said on the subject. Personally, I'd have liked to find out what it was about Fran or any of the other drug addicts in the series and/or what it was about their lives that made drugs so attractive an option as an escape?
Also, these drugs are not manufactured on the streets of Baltimore so how do they get there? And where do they come from? I feel until we get shows that begin to focus on some of the root causes of the world's drug epidemic today, all we'll ever get is very entertaining shows that mainly serve to make us voyeurs on other people's tragic sadness.
But the emphasis is definitely on 'very entertaining'. I watched the entire series over two days, three episodes a sitting and then watched them all over again. As sad as the stories are, they were fun to watch. It was so much fun to see many of the same actors from the current season of The Wire on this too, people like Lance Reddick, Maria Broom, Clarke Peters, Reg E. Cathey; all incredibly versatile and talented artistes. Finally, it was also great to see (at the end of the final episode) the real-life people behind the story and find out how they felt about being portrayed on film in this way. They didn't seem to mind and the real Fran Boyd expressed the hope that seeing how bad her life on drugs was, might encourage other drug addicts to get help.
I hope so too.
I know this is long-winded and may seem more like an essay than a review of a DVD but I just don't think it's enough to review something this significant with generic praise like "Great work by Charles S. Dutton!" (Even though it is) or "T.K. Carter's performance was stunning!" (Even though it was) or "Sean Nelson was great!" (Even though he was) or "Khandi Alexander shines!" (Even though she does). In my view, this winner of 3 Emmys is a body of work that is much greater than the sum of its parts, as fantastic as those parts are. This series makes me think and it makes me wonder. Not many TV series can do that.
But then, this isn't TV. It's HBO.
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The dvds were received very quickly, packaged totally securely and are in pristine condition. There was even a protector between the discs. I can’t wait to watch them. I hope the story is as good as The Wire, which was superb! Thanks for being a great seller! I’ll be purchasing more from this seller in the future.
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The dvds were received very quickly, packaged totally securely and are in pristine condition. There was even a protector between the discs. I can’t wait to watch them. I hope the story is as good as The Wire, which was superb! Thanks for being a great seller! I’ll be purchasing more from this seller in the future.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2011
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