With increased media attention on addiction, more and more documentaries on the subject are coming out all the time—some good, others less so. But we shouldn’t overlook some powerful earlier addiction films. A number of them made in the UK—where a certain genre of very intimate, lower-budget documentary seems to be a specialty—have made a deep impression on me, as a former heroin user.
These British flicks don’t have the high production values of HBO’s Heroin: Cape Cod, USA, for example. But they are often shot by people who are immersed deeply in the subject matter, which gives them a grittier, more authentic feel than films produced by outside observers.
This list is not necessarily to endorse the theoretical messages expressed or implied (and it is important to acknowledge, amid these portrayals of devastation, that most experiences with drugs are nowhere near as harmful or dramatic). But it is to salute these films’ unflinching realism, their humanity and their power. Thanks to YouTube, they’re easily available. They’re well worth your time.
Don’t Get High On Your Own Supply (Director: Leo Regan, 1998)
Leo Regan filmed his close friend, Lanre Fehintola, as he tried to kick heroin cold turkey. Fehintola was a photographer with the Independent newspaper. He became addicted to heroin while doing a photo project about heroin users in the city of Bradford in Yorkshire, northern England.
Six years into his addiction, Regan and several friends intervened to try and get him to quit. Watching Lanre go through detox, talk to his son, and hallucinate bugs coming out of his skin is excruciating. The credits at the end of the film tell us how his struggles continued. Happily, Lanre Fehintola is these days working as a professional photographer again and producing incredible work—still photographing people who use drugs.
The Wet House (Penny Woolcock, 2002)
This raw documentary is filmed inside an East London “wet house”—a shelter where homeless people with alcohol problems can live while continuing to drink. (Providing housing in this way actually has the effect of reducing drinking).
You can see the suffering in the beat-up faces of the generally intoxicated residents, but you also see moments of great humanity—including between two survivors on opposite sides of the sectarian troubles in Northern Ireland. Harrowing plot lines include one resident being viciously assaulted by street kids. In one terrifying moment, an old man collapses from delirium tremens. The facility’s staff remain cool and professional throughout the tragedy and drama.
Crackhouse (Carl Jambert, 2003)
This BBC documentary shadows director Carl Jambert, a former crack user who follows a group of his old friends in their daily life of sex work, child care issues and scoring drugs in Liverpool.
One fascinating and prominently featured character is Tanya, a fugitive from the law who is trying to get someone to adopt her daughter before she finally turns herself into the police. The film deploys gritty visuals in its portrayal of UK street culture. Plot lines including pregnancy, police work and addictions revolve around a near-ruined house where drugs are used.
Detox or Die (David Graham Scott, 2004)
David Graham Scott filmed his struggles with a 20-year heroin addiction and finally his attempt to quit using Ibogaine. This documentary has a meta feel because Scott actually conducted his project in the public eye, with newspapers publishing headlines about the filmmaker potentially “filming his own death.”
Filmed in a bleak version of the city of Edinburgh (where the movie Trainspotting was set), Detox or Die includes footage of people shooting up and of drug deals in some of Scotland’s roughest ghettos—but also of happy times Scott spends with his family. While it was being shot, Scott’s relationship with his long-term girlfriend ended and he struggled with his methadone dosage. His is a refreshingly frank portrayal of his life and the method he chose to try to quit heroin.
Ben: Diary of a Heroin Addict (Olly Lambert, 2008)
This incredibly dark documentary (pictured above) follows the last two years of Ben Rogers’ life. The young man, who grew up in a happy, middle-class family in Derbyshire in central England, began filming his own heroin addiction and daily life in the family home. His films were undiscovered until after Ben died of complications related to heroin.
It’s impossible not to sympathize with Ben as he struggles, lies to his family, and contends with the condition DVT (deep-vein thrombosis), which leaves him injecting heroin into his groin.
Ben’s family felt compelled to participate in the creation of the documentary after their son’s films were found, and the interviews with his mother are a particularly important element. The film powerfully sets a tragic addiction in the context of the family it bereaved.
