The House I Live In

In the last 40 years, the infamous War on Drugs in the US has caused 45 million arrests, cost the government billions of dollars and brought entire communities to their knees without reducing the spread of illegal substances one bit. Starting with his nanny’s personal tragedy (who lost her son to drugs), the multi-award-winning Eugene Jarecki (“Freakonomics”) takes a headlong dive into a maze of conflicting political interests and criminally severe laws, in order to expose a monumental absurdity at the expense the country’s most underprivileged citizens. Shot across 20 US States, “The House I Live In” features devastating testimonies from dozens of people taking part in this undeclared war, from low-level drug pushers to Narcotics officers and from Federal judges and senators to the grieving mothers of unwarranted victims. Based on these painful testimonials, Jarecki serves an explosive cocktail of a documentary that offers unprecedented insight into the American system’s drug-fighting methods, the interests that helped build it and its lethal consequences. Grand Jury Prize at the last Sundance Film Festival.