Documentary on meth disturbing but distant
Methamphetamine, also known as “crank,” crystal, glass or ice, is the number-one drug problem in rural America. Easy to make with common ingredients, cheap to buy, and almost impossible to quit, crank has ravaged communities in the heartland, and the number of its addicts is rising at an alarming rate.
Methamphetamine addiction’s seemingly helpless victims are the subject of an HBO documentary debuting next week.
“Crank” director Eames Yates has made six America Undercover documentaries for HBO since 1996, including the highly regarded “Dead Blue: Surviving Depression,” with Mike Wallace and William Styron. But without such sensitive and intelligent subjects to drive production, Yates doesn’t seem to know what he wants to tell us.
“Crank: Made in America” looks at the effects of methamphetamine addiction through the personal stories of three Iowa families.
Terri, Jeff, Justin and Clayton have enjoyed “family time” together by getting high on crank. Terri, a middle-aged mother of two, has been using crank since 1980. Her oldest son, Jeff, is serving 25 years for dealing crank.
Just 36 hours after he holds his newborn son in his arms, Justin goes off to get high “one more time.”
Without Yates allowing us to know any back stories or sense any inkling of motivation from these people, it’s impossible not to feel flat-out revulsion when pregnant Karina puffs away on a Marlboro unfiltered, or when 46-year-old Terri, scuffing around her filthy house as drug scabs suppurate on her face, describes watching porn with some teenage boys.
While the stories are tragic, the program’s arm’s length style and unlovable subjects make the drug problem seem much farther than a trailer park away.
America Undercover Documentary – “Crank: Made in America.”
Premiere April 8 on HBO, with rebroadcasts April 10, 14 and 27.
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D19.