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Life & Arts

Harsh 'Gridlock'd' attacks holes in U.S. rehab system

by JASON GAGNON
The Daily Cougar

In Focus is intended to highlight past films that still have an impact on today's film culture. The article also gives writers an opportunity to explain why the film is important to them.

I am a connoisseur of junkie literature and cinema (I also could've told you James Frey was full of crap before theSmokingGun.com did), and I have been left profoundly scathed by some of the things I've read, watched and have witnessed in my own life. Being a junkie isn't funny at all, and there is certainly no room for satire in that sad realm, but when it comes to our country's health care system and its treatment of drug addicts … well, that's a whole other ballgame. That is what makes Gridlock'd such a great film.

If you're looking for a movie to truly terrify a generation away from heroin, this isn't your flick (that would be Requiem for a Dream). The movie doesn't glamorize junkiedom the way most films do, but it certainly doesn't condemn its characters either. Instead, Gridlock'd sets its sights on the system that we have all been brought up to believe desperately wants to help drug users break the vicious cycle, yet is undoubtedly set up to fail in all areas.

The movie starts with Spoon (Tupac Shakur) and Stretch (Tim Roth) realizing their band mate and friend Cookie has taken a hot shot on New Years Eve. They frantically try to get an ambulance to rescue her, then attempt to get her treatment in the emergency ward, to no avail, at which point they realize it's time for both of them to clean their hands. From then on, the duo are met with every conceivable obstacle possible while trying to get into rehab, including loads of red tape, the cops and some dealers they burned so they could get their final fix. Make no mistake, the protagonists in this movie aren't saints, but at least have the sense to understand that living shot to shot isn't the best life choice.

The movie plays brilliantly as a comedy and manages to make the whole Reagan era "War on Drugs" schtick seem utterly ridiculous. Stretch and Spoon are sent from office to office with all sorts of different excuses for why they can't receive help escaping their plight. Sure, it's self-inflicted, and at one point a social worker blasts the duo saying, "Yeah, we all been waiting for the day you come through that door and tell us you're ready not to be a drug fiend. After five, 10 years, you decide this is the day, and the world stops for you?'' Of course, this is an extremely valid point, but what our politicians tell us is that, "We want to do anything possible to cure people from this wretched disease," while never following up on that promise.

This sounds very bleak and depressing, but Roth and Shakur (in his finest performance) understand the comedy amid all the dread and fully fledge out their characters. It's not Jared Leto wanting to make a quick buck, or Jennifer Connelly wanting to get back at Mommy and Daddy, but two street guys wanting to make a positive change only to find out that no one cares. Add a stellar soundtrack courtesy of former Police drummer Stewart Copeland, and you've got yourself a movie that should have received as much attention as Trainspotting. Yeah, it's that good, and it actually makes a point beyond arrested adolescent development.
 

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