94% The House I Live In

All Critics (53) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (49) | Rotten (3)

"The House I Live In" leaves you shaking your head in deadened wonder at the waste of it all.

The House I Live In is a work of journalism, not propaganda: Jarecki has done his research and leaves it to you to decide what to make of it.

If [it] takes a while to focus, it eventually becomes the conversation starter the subject desperately needs.

Jarecki takes a highly original approach to create a compelling, thought-provoking look at a highly relevant and controversial topic.

An absorbing, disturbing sit.

It's a film as profoundly sad as it is enraging and potentially galvanizing, and it's one of the most important pieces of nonfiction to hit the screen in years.

The ambitious look at the drug problem here offers a too simplistic view that demands a more critical and more inclusive look.

What this film argues, pretty convincingly, is that the war on drugs is much worse than a failure. It argues that it is tearing our society apart.

Jarecki makes clear that all our efforts and investments in fighting the War on Drugs haven't yielded any real success, only ruined lives, families and communities. There comes a point in any war where it becomes important to ask: Is it worth it?

Expertly researched, brilliantly argued and masterfully assembled, it is also easily the documentary of the year.

One of the finest documentaries of the year, this involving film is lucid, sharply well shot and edited, and ultimately so important that it's rather terrifying to watch.

A wide-ranging examination of the futile, self-defeating "war on drugs" ...

One of the best documentaries out this year, and a must-see for Senate and Congress in America.

An angry and personal attack on America's war on drugs contends it is a grotesquely wasteful public-works scheme.

Jarecki is a stickler for sticking to his subject, or sub-subject, until it squeals like a leech victim.

Jarecki offers 100 small conclusions rather than one big one for you to take away.

This urgent and formidably smart movie - perhaps the year's most important political documentary - has opened minds and changed laws already.

Tells a complex story with troubling ease.

Persuasively argues that punitive laws against users have historically involved disproportionately targeting poor, non-white communities.

Jarecki's parade of experts and eyewitnesses is impressive, as are his arguments that race and class prejudice enter into the policing efforts of America's drug warriors.

Jarecki's conclusion is powerfully plausible

There's no confusion about Jarecki's point of view in The House I Live In- he's out to make the case that America's drug laws cause far more damage, to individuals and communities, than drug use ever has

The film deserves credit for offering a unique perspective on a relevant social issue.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_house_i_live_in/

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