Dope Sick Love
Dope Sick Love is a really remarkable documentary made for HBO about two pairs of heroin addicted lovers roaming the streets of NYC. There is no narration and we never see any interviews with the subjects, the camera just follows them around, like a third eye, completely detached.
The people being followed don’t even seem aware that they’re being filmed! (or, at least, they don’t seem to care). The footage is amazingly candid. This is as real as it gets. The nuts and bolts of what its like to be on the street and addicted to heroin. We watch them score dope, shoot it, make up, hustle, and even impersonate cops to rob people, and about a million other tiny details that less observant documentary filmmakers would leave out.
Some of the footage is truly horrifying. Like watching one guy frantically searching for the fix he lost. And when he does find it, the guy literally dances in the street.
The cyclical nature of drug addiction becomes very apparent while watching this. EVERYTHING is about getting the next score to these folks, yet the next score seems to be well worth the immense trouble they go through.
Watch the full documentary now (playlist) – or go at YouTube
It has Danish subtitles.
What an AWESOME concept, thanx, gonna watch this right now!
Same the world over pretty much.
This made me feel like I was right there with them. I can truly appreciate these kind of documentaries.
At the risk of sounding utterly selfish, I think docs like this are great to watch on what one may think was a “bad day”. Very well done. I love my bed.
How sad and pathetic. That human beings can be reduced to such a level. Some scenes made me think ‘these people are wasting good oxygen on this planet’. But I suppose the drugs make them
unable to make any sort of ‘decent human value judgments’. All in all this documentary was enlightening in that it requires you to think more deeply about the entire way the drug problem is handled. There has to be a better way.
Remember when you were a kid and the world just didn’t seem like it could get so bad?
Haven’t seen a raw one in awhile. My favorite. Thanks Vlatko.
human waste…
I wouldn’t even disparage the people in this doc. They get enough of “your a waste” already, but it was really insightful into what world their living in compared to my comfortable lifestyle. The doc. definitely shined a light on a lot of issues incurred on these guys, that they were joint at the hip as couples, and the false optimism which was prevalent in their attitude to kick the drug habit. Yes, it was harrowing, but shows the potency of the drug as well and all the other factors rolled in one that lead to such depravity.
the guys talking in the cars when she does her scam are fake…. obvious
Look, I am a heroin addict. Or at least i was. For twenty two years I lived through the same thing if not worse. Now I’m a writer. I write newsletters, articles, and im working on my book (38 Scars) I have put together a foundation too. Silver7s Foundation was founded with the principle that individualized addiction treatment, allows the addict to be more comfortable with the idea of what recovery is, and it also allows the empowerment of inclusiveness.
In creating his/her own recovery program, they became invested in their own future, while bolstering their sense of self. It also produces a more invested participation. We are opposed to any treatment that requires the addict to surrender their will and life over to the care of anything other than themselves. We are not subscribers to the theory that addiction is an incurable life long disease. These are poisonous ideals, coercive and destructive in their practice.
That is the reason why AA/NA actually keep addicts in the cycle of addiction. They are killing people with their cult mentality
I strongly suggest Suboxone treatment for heroin addicts it helped me, along with a counselor that is not tied to the disease model of addiction and groups that are focused on the Individual program that the addict helps to create. the hope you need is not lost. you can find it again, and i will help you, and not try to sell you anything or treat you with disrespect. i was where your at now. i made it out and you can too.
wow .. great doc.. it really takes you into the world of addiction .. some people think that addicts deserve the pain from living a life like that but i think that everybody makes mistakes and take make some bad choices… i don´t think anybody deserves living that hell, because it is hell what they are living.—- everybody deserves a chance to get back on their feet and start over. I think we as humans should do everything we can to help….
I was just going to watch the first video then ended up watching the whole thing…
why don’t they show these kind of films in the theatre!?
Well there are many reasons why. I guess if they did our society probably wouldn’t have many drug users to begin with.
anyways, very interesting film.
I saw a documentary about a heroin addicted girl, about 20 years old. When she was five, her grandfather began raping her to the point where he damaged her hips and she was hospitalized. Her own mother convinced doctors she’d fallen down stairs and the abuse continued. When she told that story, it made perfect sense why she had become a homeless heroin addict – what chance did she ever get?
She isn’t ‘human waste’ as one commenter wrote, her grandfather is.
My point though is, before folk go and judge addicts, take a moment to consider WHY their lives have turned out this way and to all of those who balk, scoff and think these people deserve what they get, ask yourself, what would Jesus do?
These people are still our ‘fellow man’ and none of them, given the right set of circumstances would behave the way they do, if they weren’t using heroin.
sickening…… gritty and real. everyone that uses drugs, even relationally and responsibly, should watch this film
Yo vlatko :D
I’ts broke :( User doesn’t allow embedded video’s…
Thought I’d let you know…
Nielsch
Fixed that. Thanks.
i went out with sebastion after this was made and hes nothing like this anymore. im proud of you and will see you soon!!! bas i miss you and hope to see you soon. love you!!!
Wow! this is the most powerful film I have ever seen. So freaking sad. This is like Requiem for a Dream all over again for me.
the scenes with the vice scam are fake or at least the “johns” are voice overs. Lame.
Eye opening, makes me overwhelmed with gratitude of even small things I have access to…
Wasted years.