The House I Live In (2012 film)

The House I Live In, directed by Eugene Jarecki, is a 2012 documentary film about the War on Drugs in the United States.

The House I Live In
Directed by	Eugene Jarecki
Produced by	Eugene Jarecki Melinda Shopsin
Written by	Eugene Jarecki
Starring	Nannie Jeter David Simon
Music by	Robert Miller
Cinematography	Sam Cullman Derek Hallquist
Distributed by	Abramorama
Release date	October 5, 2012
Running time	108 minutes
Country	United States International[1]
Language	English

Participants

• Michelle Alexander (civil rights litigator and the author of 2010's The New Jim Crow)
• Shanequa Benitez (resident of Cromwell Towers housing project in Yonkers, New York)
• The Honorable Mark W. Bennett (U.S. District Court Judge in Sioux City, Iowa)
• Charles Bowden (journalist covering drug war-caused violence on the Mexico–U.S. border)
• Mike Carpenter (Chief of Security at Joseph Harp Correctional Center in Lexington, Oklahoma) [2]
• Marshal Larry Cearley (Police Officer in the village of Magdalena, New Mexico)
• Eric Franklin (Warden of the Lexington Corrections Center in Lexington, Oklahoma)
• Maurice Haltiwanger (sentenced to 20 years for crack cocaine distribution)
• Dr. Carl Hart[3] (Professor of Clinical Neuroscience, Columbia University)
• Nannie Jeter (resident of New Haven, Connecticut)
• Anthony Johnson (former small-time drug dealer in Yonkers, New York)
• Dr. Gabor Maté (Hungarian-born physician specializing in the treatment of addiction - has been working in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for several decades)
• Mark Mauer[4] (Director, The Sentencing Project)
• Richard Lawrence Miller[5] (American historian and expert on the history of U.S. drug laws)
• Charles Ogletree (Jesse Climenko Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and a former academic advisor to Barack and Michelle Obama)
• Kevin Ott (formerly[6] serving life without parole on drug charges, Lexington Correctional Center, Lexington, Oklahoma)
• Susan Randall[7] (Private investigator in Vermont - formerly a journalist/producer for National Public Radio, All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Vermont Public Radio, and a researcher and associate producer for the A&E series Biography)
• David Simon (creator of The Wire on HBO)
• Julie Stewart (President and founder of Families Against Mandatory Minimums aka FAMM)
• Dennis Whidbee (former drug dealer, and the father of Anthony Johnson)
• Officer Fabio Zuena (Police Officer in the city of Providence, Rhode Island)
• David Kennedy (Professor of Criminal Justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City)

Reception

The documentary has been well received. Among the review aggregators, Rotten Tomatoes gave it 95% based on 55 reviews[8] and Metacritic gave it 77/100 based on 24 reviews.[9] Roger Ebert says The House I Live In "makes a shattering case against the War on Drugs."[10] Peter Bradshaw reviewed the film for The Guardian and summed it up as an "angry and personal attack on America's war on drugs [that] contends it is a grotesquely wasteful public-works scheme".[11]

Awards

• January 2012: Won the Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.
• April 2014: Won a Peabody Award.[12]

See also

• List of American films of 2012
• Prison–industrial complex

References

1. "The House I Live In at Landmark Theatres". Landmark Theatres. Archived from the original on 2013-01-27. Retrieved November 18, 2012.
2. Coppernoll, Carrie. "Weapons surface in prison sweep". newsok.com. newsok. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
3. "Substance Use Research Center". Surc.columbia.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-06-23. Retrieved 2013-06-05.
4. "Marc Mauer". The Sentencing Project. Archived from the original on 2013-02-25. Retrieved 2013-06-05.
5. "Richard Lawrence Miller: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle". Amazon.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2013-06-05.
6. "Out of prison after 23 years, thanks to his mother and a documentary". the Guardian. 2019-08-07. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
7. "Susan Randall – Founder & Director". VTPrivateeye.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-04. Retrieved 2013-06-05.
8. The House I Live In at Rotten Tomatoes
9. The House I Live In at Metacritic
10. Ebert, Roger (October 10, 2012). "The House I Live In :: roberbert.com :: Reviews". Sun Times. Archived from the original on October 15, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
11. Bradshaw, Peter (November 22, 2012). "The House I Live In – review". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
12. "Independent Lens: The House I Live In (PBS)". peabodyawards.com. Peabody Award. Archived from the original on September 17, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2016.

External links

• Official website
• The House I Live In at IMDb
• National Public Radio Interview with Eugene Jarecki
• National Public Radio Article
• Appelo, Tim (January 29, 2012). "Sundance 2012: Grand Jury Prizewinner Eugene Jarecki on Drug War Doc, 'The House I Live In' (Q&A)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
• Higgins, Bill (October 12, 2012). "Brad Pitt Promotes 'The House I Live In' at Los Angeles Screening". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
• Barnes, Henry (November 22, 2012). "The House I Live In director Eugene Jarecki on the war on drugs: 'Everybody is a victim' - video". The Guardian. Retrieved January 14, 2013.