Grass
by Ron Mann
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DVD details
Actor: Cab Calloway, George Bush, Harry J. Anslinger, Jimmy Carter, Woody HarrelsonDirector: Ron Mann
Brand: Image Entertainment
Cinematographer: Robert Fresco
Producer: Ron Mann
Editor: Robert Kennedy
Producer: Keith Clarkson
Producer: Sue Len Quon
Writer: Solomon Vesta
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 80 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-04-23
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Homevision
DVD Reviews of Grass
DVD Review: excellent documentary
Summary: 5 Stars
Grass is just about the best documentary out there about America's long and pointless war on Marijuana. Entertaining and extremely informative, Grass uses old stock footage and interviews along with clips from movies and TV commercials and programs to document, decade by decade, president by president, the methods used by the US to fight Marijuana, and the monetary cost of this fight. Although there is a bit of left-leaning in its politics, Grass remains a superbly made documentary which every American should watch, especially those interested in Marijuana culture and US history. DVD Review: very good--but not necessarily the last word...
Summary: 4 Stars
Grass tells the fascinating story of the REAL history of the American government's fight against marijuana use. The fight to criminalize other drugs is addressed but that theme is only tangential to the theme of this film. Grass is narrated by actor Woody Harrelson who does a great job of narrating while not interfering with your ability to view rarely seen archival footage from newsreels and public school educational films that tired so hard to discourage young people from smoking marijuana.
We quickly learn that the fight to criminalize marijuana use began in the early 1900s when Americans noticed that Mexicans coming here for work used marijuana at the end of the day to relax after hard labor. Rumors traveled that the drug made the Mexican men wild and physically dangerous and so laws against the drug were passed. We also get great archival footage of narcotics agent Anslinger fighting drugs use and even FDR signing laws into effect that criminalized marijuana with stiff legal penalties. On the other hand we also see former mayor of New York LaGuardia's own six year study to understand the true effects of marijuana on people and how Anslinger wanted so badly to destroy every copy of this report that he could get his hands on. In one particularly hard to swallow scene, we meet a young man who came home a decorated hero from Vietnam--but after his trial for possession of marijuana he was sentenced to 50 years in prison! Wow, that WAS a harsh sentence.
Of course, we see JFK, Nixon and even the comparatively liberal former president Jimmy Carter all try to appear as tough on drug crimes as possible. There's good archival footage of the conservative and religious right marching in their own protests against the hippie movement with its use of drugs. The archival footage of the hippies having their own public protests is equally well presented. There are wonderful graphics as well.
In essence, Grass presents the view that the war on marijuana and other drugs has been largely lost at great economic expense to our government. They are correct; sadly, drug use has continued although we see evidence that "grass" is not as dangerous as many government officials wanted people to believe. You don't go insane; you won't become a murderous killer; and you won't suffer irreparable damage in any way. It's also not a given that you'll go on to "harder" drugs such as heroin; although I suppose that can be dependent on the individual. However, the government still ignores this evidence and plows ahead with its war on drugs including marijuana.
There is one thing that I hope people will still remember. Any drug use, including marijuana, can entail potentially serious health risks. As the son of a parent who drank and drugged daily for twenty-four years nonstop, I can personally attest to the fact that my mother's horrible addiction almost certainly took years off her life, slowly but surely damaging her brain cells. She was not able to care for us kids properly and the drugs she used did affect her behavior in very real ways that I shall not discuss here. When my mother finally entered rehab, she had "the shakes" and other withdrawal symptoms; and it wasn't pretty.
The DVD has a few extras. There's an optional director's commentary; and we get an alternative beginning to this film that was not used. The other extras are good, too.
Overall, Grass is one of the better films out there that do a fine job of documenting the history of the war on drugs--especially marijuana. I recommend this film for people studying the war on drugs; and persons interested in group psychology and sociology may want to have this film as well.
DVD Review: Informative Even For Someone "In The Know"
Summary: 5 Stars
I've always wondered about the historical reasons for pot's highly illegal status even while I am accutely aware of the failed ability of the Drug War to address America's interaction with drugs. This film does best in the pre-1980's historical context. The film has incredible historical footage and regardless of your political persuasion, is worth checking out. However, what was amazing to me, revealed in the film, and which I continue to confirm in my own research, was that any time the Federal Government actually used science to research pot, it found the legal penalties to be much to harsh and that pot's affect on health and society isn't the boogeyman made to be by our enforcement brances of government. My conclusion, and maybe yours too, would be that continuing the marijuanna farce degrades the Federal Government's credibility and only lends support to the fact the US Gov't bases drug policy on fear, racism, and hysteria.DVD Review: Finally the haze is removed
Summary: 5 Stars
The low-down dirty story of how marijuana was criminalized. Includes all sorts of fantastic, historical propaganda from the government! Mann does a great job putting the pieces together to paint a picture of the futility that is the war on drugs, while Harrelson gives it that down-home twang he's famous for.DVD Review: Everybody needs to see this movie
Summary: 5 Stars
It is a miracle that for close to a century, we have let our lawmakers persecute and prosecute based on lies. This documentary shows the history of brainwashing the government has perpetrated on the citizens of it's country, and lays out the underlying hidden agenda of the war on drugs. Regardless of whether you are for or against legalization of marijuana, this is something everybody needs to see to make you realize how the propoganda mill shapes the minds of generations.
Description of Grass
Grass, narrated by actor/activist Woody Harrelson, takes a highly spirited and innovative look into one of America's most deeply rooted cultural myths: the evils of "pot", "cannabis", "weed", "dubich", "doobie", "shrub", or whatever man. From the story of America's first drug czar, to the absurd scare tactics behind propaganda films like Reefer Madness, and Marijuana: Threat or Menace, director Ron Mann (Comic Book Confidential, Twist) poignantly and humorously exposes the social, political and economic facts behind this enduring weed, and the extent to which it has profoundly shaped our culture.Consider this a documentary for those who inhaled. Ron Mann's playful portrait of marijuana in America is less a social history than an examination of the government's systematic seven-decade campaign to demonize the devil's weed: the conspiracy against cannabis! Through government documents, period newsreels, and clips from hysterical educational scare films and campy overheated features (like High on the Range and the cult classic Reefer Madness), Mann reveals a systematic policy of misinformation to (he argues) justify the billions spent on the losing war on drugs. Well researched if one-sided and occasionally questionable in its own assertions (aren't there any side effects to this wonder weed?), this witty history lesson is charged with raucous energy and a satirical slant. Mann and his easygoing narrator Woody Harrelson may be preaching to the converted, but it's a hilarious sermon. Pass the munchies! --Sean Axmaker
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