This is the final film in a trilogy of documentaries that was made over several decades. It follows three main people as they engage in small-scale crime, become addicted to drugs, do some prison time, break the cycle, relapse, and on and on in a distressing and depressing cycle.
As the title implies, events play out between 1984 and 2020, but the structure does warrant a disclaimer. The years between 1984 and 1998 were detailed in the first two Life of Crime films, which means that the first hour of this third film contains tons of footage that people who've watched the first two movies will have already seen.
I hadn't watched the first one in years, so I appreciated the 1980s years getting recapped, but I zoned out a little during the 1990s scenes, because I'd seen it all just hours beforehand. Because the first hour is a good recap, it might be worth just watching this final film for anyone interested in the series. Or for anyone who really doesn't want to miss anything, watch parts 1 and 2 (about three hours in total) and then skip the first hour of this two-hour documentary.
There's another disclaimer when it comes to watching this documentary: it's extremely confronting. The first two were tough to watch, but the scenes of drug use in this one were more graphic, and there's one very gruesome scene towards the end that's a difficult sight to comprehend. It's not there just for shock's sake, and serves a purpose, but it's very disturbing.
In covering so many years and showing all the cycles the subjects go through, this is definitely the most emotional of the bunch. I was willing to go easy on the recap-heavy first hour because of how brutally effective and well-made that second hour was, and how it made for such a strong ending.
All in all, these three films might be some of the best documentaries about crime, addiction, and the problems with many US institutions out there. It's hard but important viewing, and I don't think I'll forget it soon (even the comparatively less distressing first film stuck with me, and it's been about five years since I saw that one).
