Last night I watched Requiem for Dream. I wanted to watch it after reading about it (after having discovered it via the theme music in the Da Vinci Code trailer).
It was a roller coaster of a movie. I had a general idea about what the movie was: the crumbling of 4 lives as their drug addictions become worse and worse. However, I don’t think I was really prepared for it. It’s one thing to read a synopsis of the movie, and another to watch it unfold.
Requiem for a Dream is one of those movies that doesn’t pull any punches. One after another, it slaps you in the face, saying “LOOK! This is what drug addiction is like!” In the beginning of the movie, the four characters are starting to have problems. The mother is lonely and wants to lose weight. Marion (Connelly) isn’t quite sure what she wants, besides to spend time with Harry. Harry and his pal want want to get high, but they quickly move on to wanting to make money from selling drugs.. so they can get high even more often.
Things start to fly downhill from there. The mother becomes addicted to speed as her diet pill, prescribed to her by a doctor. She starts hallucinating, imagining she’s going to be on television, and then everything will be ok.
Harry and his buddy make a ton of money at first, but Harry and Marion quickly blow most of that feeding their drug addiction. The relationship between Harry and Marion quickly decays, particularly when Marion agrees to have sex with an old friend for money.
There aren’t any happy moments in the movie. Most movies introduce problems, and then counter those problems with solutions. Requiem doesn’t. It throws one problem after another, compounding each other, leading to the eventual downfall of all four characters. The movie ends with Marion attending an orgy for more drug money, since drugs are all she can think about anymore; Harry lies in a hospital bed with one of his arms amputated, due to it basically rotting off from repeated injections in the same spot; Sarah, the mother, is placed in a psych ward, after electrotherapy failed to help her; and Tyrone, Harry’s friend, ends up in prison.
Requiem for a Dream was a riveting movie. I wouldn’t say enjoyable – in fact, it was painful to watch for me. It kind of wrenched at my heart over and over. I genuinely felt sorry for all of the characters. I’m still a bit depressed from watching it. It’s not something I’d watch again, if I came across it while channel surfing. It was just too disturbing; I’d even go so far as to say upsetting. However, I’m glad I watched it. It made me see addiction in a different light than I had before. Even though I thought it was really disturbing and depressing, I think a lot of college students (or maybe even high school students) would do well to watch it (with a parent, in regards to high school students). Maybe it’d help steer them clear of drugs. I’ve never had any real inclination to ‘experiment’ with drugs, but after watching Requiem for a Dream, I know I sure as hell won’t be touching them.
Technorati Tags: movies, requiemforadream, drugs
Comments 11
I remember when I saw this movie for the first time a long time ago. It totally messed me up for a while. The oddest thing was thinking I had only sat their for a few minutes, and looking up at the clock and noticing I had sat their for a long time. The theme music still gives me chills, and you’re right, the movie doesn’t hold back whatsoever.
Posted 17 Aug 2006 at 6:03 am ¶Yeah, it’s been a couple of days since I saw it, and it’s still going through my head.
Posted 17 Aug 2006 at 12:48 pm ¶This is one of my favorite movies. If you liked this, you’d probably also like Darren Aronofsky’s previous film “Pi”.
Posted 22 Aug 2006 at 7:36 pm ¶This is one of my most favorite movies. It’s one of the few movies that actually has a point to it these days. You leave the movie gaining something from having watched the film.
I really liked how the film isn’t merely about drug addiction, but addiction in all its forms. We as a society are addicted, if not to drugs then to television and entertainment, to pills, to coffee, to a certain lifestyle, to ignorant bliss, so much so that our life is destroyed when it all comes crumbling down.
Posted 11 Sep 2006 at 9:34 am ¶I enjoyed it, and found it extremely interesting (and upsetting), but I doubt I’d ever watch it again. Once was enough.
Posted 11 Sep 2006 at 9:47 am ¶it is a good movie
Posted 19 Feb 2007 at 11:50 pm ¶this movie is absolutly sickening, as a person who knows about the life, i think they did such a great job of showing how terrible the ways of an addict are. I think if you know, or have lived the life of an addict the movie hits you harder, but should definatly be seen as an anti drug movie. Parents who want to “scare their kids straight” should show this to their children- the younger the better
Posted 15 Mar 2008 at 3:20 am ¶Poo: Indeed, I’ve never been tempted to try any drugs, but if I had, the movie would have certainly scared me away from the hobby. I never did watch the movie a second time; I ended up having dreams (or perhaps one should say nightmares) about it, for a week or two after I watched it.
Posted 15 Mar 2008 at 7:05 pm ¶Yeah, this is one of my favorite movies, I have watched it over 10 times .. The first time I saw it though, I swear I sat in utter shock for a good 20 mins .. I was literally speachless .. I would recomend this movie to everyone !
Posted 19 Aug 2008 at 2:35 am ¶This movie also made me depressed for a long while. I saw it once and it messed me up. And like a dumb person, I watched it again and saw a lot more the second time. I couldnt get the images out of my head, and had nightmares and trouble sleeping. i would not advise allowing kids to watch this! Maybe hardened teens
Posted 13 Dec 2008 at 8:07 pm ¶i just watched it, I feel awefull. I don’t know what else to say, what a downer this film has put me in.
Posted 12 Feb 2009 at 8:41 pm ¶Trackbacks & Pingbacks 1
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