The House I Live In (2012)
Average Rating: 8/10
Reviews Counted: 60
Fresh: 56 | Rotten: 4
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.8/10
Critic Reviews: 21
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 3
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 4.2/5
User Ratings: 2,390
Movie Info
Why We Fight director Eugene Jarecki shifts his focus from the military industrial complex to the War on Drugs in this documentary exploring the risks that prohibition poses to freedom, and the tragedy of addicts being treated as criminals. In the four decades since the War on Drugs commenced, over 45 millions of addicts have been arrested - and for each one jailed, another family is destroyed. Meanwhile, the prisons in America are growing overcrowded with non-violent criminals, and illegal
Watch It Now
Cast
ADVERTISEMENT
All Critics (60) | Top Critics (21) | Fresh (56) | Rotten (4)
The movie's indictment would be more persuasive had Jarecki recognized that his audience likely already knows most of what he recaps, and can handle the odd scrap of ambiguity.
Top Critic"The House I Live In" leaves you shaking your head in deadened wonder at the waste of it all.
Tells a complex story with troubling ease.
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.
Somehow, Jarecki pulls it off, circling his subject and revisiting key themes as he constructs the convincing argument that, while the drug war may affect only a certain segment of the population, it's everyone's problem.
Our search for easy answers to the evils of drugs is an addiction we must wean ourselves from.
A compelling investigation into the roots of America's war on drugs, which has massively increased prison numbers whilst failing to reduce drug abuse.
This fine film makes surprising connections and offers provocative arguments.
It is the insiders, the prisoners themselves who are most cinema-eloquent, along with a surprising Iowa U.S District Court judge and an Oklahoma corrections center security chief.
Jarecki's arguments, presented as a very personal response to the war on drugs, are unashamedly those of a left-wing libertarian. They are also enormously compelling and extremely convincing.
Suffused with a righteous anger that Jarecki methodically turns up to full boil, The House I Live In is an emotionally shattering work, but also one with a hefty, legitimate intellectual punching power.
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.
Audience Reviews for The House I Live In
Super Reviewer
This broken record of a documentary tried to beat the same thing in over and over while tweaking its own footage to sway the audiences thought. It takes almost TWO HOURS to do so as well.
There's nothing insightful about The House I Live In and it's not much of a topic starter. It's mostly just boring. If you HAVE TO watch it, wait until you can see it free on FSTV or something.
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for The House I Live In yet.
What's Hot On RT
Pictures from a zombie nation
Woody Allen in San Francisco
See the Desolation of Smaug trailer!
Where does This Is the End rank?
Fresh Links
Featured
Movie: ID: 771266105 Title: The House I Live In Release Date: 2012-10-05 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 6 Status: 1
The Looks of Johnny Depp
To celebrate the star's birthday, BuzzSugar looks at the many faces of Johnny Depp.
10 Egregious Product Placements
Rolling Stone wonders if The Internship goes too far... then provides 10 examples of movies that did.
Horror Movie Mistakes
Moviefone offers up 8 of the most obvious glaring errors in popular fright flicks.
10 Bad Movies That Look Great
Sometimes even terrible movies can be beautiful; here are 10 of them, from HitFix.
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Featured on RT
- Video Interviews with Cast & Crew of Monsters University 0
- Digital Multiplex: 21 & Over, Quartet, and More 1
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Jack the Giant Slayer and Quartet 23
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Man of Steel Sets June Record 101
- Weekly Ketchup: Man of Steel Sequel In the Works 198
- Five Favorite Films with Joss Whedon 128
- Bonus Footage of the Cast & Crew of Man of Steel 1
Top Headlines
