'The House I Live In' Tackles The War on Drugs

"As America remains embroiled in conflict overseas, a less visible war is taking place at home, costing countless lives, destroying families, and inflicting untold damage on future generations of Americans. Over forty years, the War on Drugs has accounted for more than 45 million arrests, made America the world’s largest jailer, and damaged poor communities at home and abroad. Yet for all that, drugs are cheaper, purer, and more available today than ever before. Beyond simple misguided policy, The House I Live In examines how political and economic corruption have fueled the war for forty years, despite persistent evidence of its moral, economic, and practical failures."

The House I Live In explores the failed War on Drugs. 

Well, failed in terms of lowering durg use, drug crimes, and crimes overall. But successful if you are a politician seeking to be "tough on crime". 

After all, there are 2.3 million people incarcerated. That's more than those in any industrialized country. 

The film won the 2012 Grand Prize Jury Prize for Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. 

Director Eugene Jarecki, also directed Why We Fight, which won the Jury Prize for Documentary in 2005. On The Daily Show, Jarecki said the drug war was blocking much of the progress brought on by the Civil Rights Movement. 

He conducted interviews with dealers, politicians, law enforcement, affected families, and the incarcerated in over 20 states. Among these is his childhood nannie and second mother, whose son was arrested for drug crimes and many other family members have been in and out of prison because of drug offenses. 

Jarecki told Ebony magazine, "The drug war shouldn’t be mentioned without the word fail in front of it so there is never any doubt. It’s a failure on every level. It’s up to us to put the issue to bed."

Sheri Linden of the Los Angeles Times said, "It's a film as profoundly sad as it is enraging and potentially galvanizing, and it's one of the most important pieces of nonfiction to hit the screen in years."

Movie critic of all critics, Robert Ebert, gave the film 3 and a half stars, calling it a "shattering case against the War on Drugs."

The House I Live In is in limited theater release and SBW is sad we may have to wait until the DVD release to see it.