Tears for April: Beyond the Blue Lens
A documentary by Al Arsenault and Ken Jubenvill. Unrated. Opens Friday, November 30, at the Cinemark Tinseltown
Followers of reality TV may get more than they bargained for in Tears for April: Beyond the Blue Lens, an utterly unsparing look at life if you can call it that in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The documentary is a follow-up, almost a decade later, to Through a Blue Lens, a National Film Board project that looked at the efforts of some Vancouver cops who called themselves the Odd Squad. They are led by former constable Al Arsenault (now retired), who describes himself as "an expert on the pain drugs can cause people".
Arsenault, it turns out, has a lot in common with documentary makers through history, as he declares here that when it comes to photographing sensitive areas of life "It's easier to apologize later than to beg before." In this case, the images are of people who undergo shocking deteriorations, losing teeth, hair, muscles, and skin, sometimes in just a few years.
Central to this process is one April Reoch, a part-Native woman who was hooked and hooking by the age of 16. You can tell from the title that this won't end well, but Arsenault, codirecting with Ken Jubenvill, mixes April's story with those of several other addicts who go through various stages of denial, hope, and humiliating collapse.
There is some disturbing stuff along the way as no-hopers disappoint yet again. (One scrawny user, taken in by her family, immediately starts complaining about cat dander.) But human beings are unpredictable. The worst case, who resembles a shell-shocked war veteran when first seen at Main and Hastings streets, makes the best recovery, eventually joining the police to lecture students about drug abuse.
"This time," he declares poignantly, "I get to ride in the front seat with my hands free."
The film, which can't by nature resist being somewhat repetitive, doesn't address the persistent criminalization of drug culture, which turns cops into social workers. Clearly, the best ones do work that has to be done. But do we really want a society in which police are the most caring speakers at a funeral service?
Comments
2 Comments
syd
Jan 13, 2011 at 6:05pm
The point of the documentary was to show people the truth about drugs, effects, and how the users got to where they were. In beyond the the lens it explains that they can't arrest everyone that they catch in possession, because most of them will end up back where they are, and there would be a bigger over crowd in jails then there already are. The police were the most caring speakers at Aprils funeral because they had gotten to know her, and wanted to help her. Also there is no problem with the policemen caring about the users, it shows they are people who care and aren't lifeless bodies. I dont believe you are wrong, but you were looking at the movie at a different angle then intended.(To learn more about drug abuse, and the users.)
Carrie
Dec 5, 2013 at 9:26am
Syd is right. However, you might also think about more of the social factors (which is what the original movie - Through a Blue Lens talks about). Also, there's a health factor, addiction is considered a mental illness. How long can you arrest someone for being addicted (or trying to make money to fund their addiction) before you finally have to accept that these people are in an altered state of mind due to their illness? If anything is really lacking in our society, it's the mental health and social systems. Improvement on these systems will help reduce the incidence of high risk children and adolescents. (Don't ask me how to do this... Support increased taxing? Start an occupy movement? lol)