The House I Live In
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Metascore
77 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.7 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 6 Ratings

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  • Summary: As America remains embroiled in conflict overseas, a less visible war is taking place at home, costing countless lives, destroying families, and inflicting untold damage on future generations of Americans. Over forty years, the War on Drugs has accounted for
    more than 45 million arrests, ma    de America the world's largest jailer, and damaged poor communities at home and abroad. Yet for all that, drugs are cheaper, purer, and more available today than ever before. (Charlotte Street Films)… Collapse

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 24
  3. Negative: 0 out of 24
  1. New Orleans Times-Picayune
    Reviewed by: Mike Scott
    Nov 30, 2012
    100
    The House I Live In is not a comfortable film to consider in any respect, but without discomfort it's hard to feel anger - and without anger, it's hard to imagine that anything will ever be done about it.
  2. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    Oct 4, 2012
    80
    The scope of the subject is such that when Mr. Jarecki's voiceover cuts into the narrative, imposing a personal angle on the national story, it reduces the sense of significance its creator aimed for. But that's a fairly backhanded endorsement of a very potent movie.
  3. The Guardian
    Reviewed by: Peter Bradshaw
    Nov 25, 2012
    80
    Among Jarecki's interviewees is David Simon (author of The Wire) who is incandescent with contempt for the system.
  4. NPR
    Reviewed by: Mark Jenkins
    Oct 5, 2012
    60
    The House I Live In shows Nannie Jeter as she hopefully watches Barack Obama's 2008 electoral victory, but doesn't analyze the current president's apparent reluctance to significantly alter anti-drug policies.

See all 24 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. LamontRaymond
    5
    It's a good documentary in that there are so many issues addressed therein that require examination (and often indignation), but it goes a bit too far and fails to even posit alternatives. I love that they highlight the difference in sentencing guidelines between powder and crack cocaine. Completely asinine, even if you don't believe that it's targeting non-whites. The other issue that I feel is huge is the manipulation of federal housing assistance - ex-cons were denied housing assistance for all but the "red" zones on the city maps - essentially the ghettos. What was not discussed in this film was exactly how the experts would deal with drug dealers in absence of jail sentences. And when the son of the Columbia professor says that he can't raise 2 kids on $8 an hour, the father should have said, "YES, YOU CAN!..... It's a start! Get 2 jobs paying $8 each, and make your dollars last!" It seems that personal accountability is not given enough weight in the discussion. And comparing the US war on drugs to the Holocaust was disgusting. I know there are elements in common between genocide and marginalizing a group of people for actually doing wrong (buying and using drugs), but David Simon (who I love from "the Wire") goes too far when he suggests that the US policy is becoming "Kill the Poor." Hard-working poor folks who don't commit crimes? Those are the people killed in Germany, Poland, Cambodia, and Russia. They don't go to prison and get killed in the U.S. It's a bridge too far, and takes away from many of the valuable lessons of the film.… Expand

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