SEX, DRUGS, AND DEMOCRACY
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1995 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 4.1
U.S. Release Date: varies
Running Length: 1:17
MPAA Classification: Not Rated (Graphic sex, nudity, profanity,
mature themes)
Director: Jonathan Blank Producers: Jonathan Blank Cinematography: Jonathan Blank Music: Philip Foxman U.S. Distributor: Red Hat Productions
Watching SEX, DRUGS, AND DEMOCRACY, I was reminded of a junior high school lesson about term paper writing -- it's possible to agree with a thesis even when it's not convincingly argued. That's precisely the case with this documentary, a collection of talking head interviews and supposedly-adventurous camera shots designed to defend director/producer Jonathan Blank's views on everything from legalized prostitution (which he supports) to gun control (which he doesn't). Blank may have my sympathy on several issues, but his method of justifying them is patently ineffective.
SEX, DRUGS, AND DEMOCRACY centers on some important, interesting subjects. Is it simple pragmatism or moral degeneracy that has led the Dutch government to legalize prostitution? (Blank's conclusion: the former) Does tolerating open distribution of marijuana limit hard drug addiction? (Blank's conclusion: Yes) Would the Netherlands' solution work in countries with different cultures? (Blank's conclusion: Of course) Legitimate arguments on each of these questions could fill up a number of feature-length documentaries. Unfortunately, Blank isn't especially interested in delving beneath the surface of these fertile subjects, preferring simplistic solutions to intelligent analysis.
The film comes across as both a veiled attack on the United States and a piece of propaganda for the Netherlands. After viewing this portrait of paradise, who wouldn't want to pack up and move to Amsterdam? More than once, I wondered if some Dutch tourist agency hadn't partially funded the project -- not that much funding was necessary, considering that the picture was made on a shoestring budget. Half the footage was shot on video of such appalling quality that most of us would reject it for home movies. HOOP DREAMS and JUPITER'S WIFE have proven that videotaped sequences can work effectively in feature documentaries. Not so here.
SEX, DRUGS, AND DEMOCRACY is not barren of intelligent points -- it's just that most of them are buried deeply beneath mounds of spurious hype and thinly-supported, one-sided arguments. Not to mention that all of this stuff has been covered in other, better-produced PBS programs. Because of its inclusion of hard-core porn excerpts, SEX, DRUGS, AND DEMOCRACY is unlikely to be released on video. Even so, there's no compelling reason to catch the movie during its limited theatrical run -- both money and time could be better spent elsewhere.
- James Berardinelli (jberardinell@delphi.com)
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews