Through a Blue Lense

Some documentaries, made properly can have a great effect on its audience. There aren't many that I have seen and remembered for a long time, but I think this will be one of them.

Through a blue lense tells the story of cops going around Vancouver's skid row interviewing druggies and the such. It sends out a powerful message if I've ever heard one. If you have the opportunity, watch it. It made me feel like crying.

Being filmed in Vancouver, some of my classmates know the people interviewed.

Nicola (pic #8) apparently went back to doing drugs after awhile, but she has apparently gone back for treatment recently.

Picture 7 - This was the part that made me feel like crying. You should have seen his face when they brought his brother to come see him. They were all crying, and you could see the relief on his face. Lotsa people who end up on Vancouver Eastside and such places all over the world do not stay there by choice. They are there because there is nowhere else to go.

For some of the people, they showed pictures of the before and after. Looking at the before pictures, they're normal people like you and me. After years of being on drugs, they then look really roughed up. I feel so sad for them. They really have no hope left whatsoever.

When you're in such a situation, having someone reach out and make you their responsibility can be...everything.

You'd be glad to know that the man in picture 7 has remained clean and is now working on drug abuse education programs. At the beginning of the film, there was footage of him convulsing on the side of the road...

Picture 5 was perhaps the most graphic of them all. She had scratched off half the flesh of her arm for coke bugs. That's the feeling of having bugs crawling under your skin. There is basically a huge hole in her arm, exposed flesh and all. Funny thing was, she used this wound to inject more drugs in.

One thing that all these people have in common is that they all expressed a feeling of utter hopelessness. There is desperation of the worst kind in all their faces.