Flowers of Darkness

In FLOWERS OF DARKNESS, Narrator Paul Newman (!!) takes us on a tragical history tour of the origins of heroin. Starting with the opium poppy, he leads us through the ancient story of the Eastern drug trade, the introduction of opium / morphine to Westerners, and the eventual criminal enterprise built around heroin. Much is made about its addictive nature, and the doom that follows its use.

While certainly dated, this documentary does gain points by shying away from the use of the "hip" lingo, that usually accompanies these sort of productions. Mr. Newman's delivery is sedate, and lacking any of the typical ballyhoo and blather.

Surprisingly informative...

Distant Drummer: Flowers of Darkness (1972)

*** (out of 4)

Somewhat follow-up to A MOVABLE SCENE, this documentary takes a look at the heroin problems in America. We see how the products starts off, gets into the market and the various way criminals try to import it without getting caught. Paul Newman does the narration and he does a very good job with it. His certainly got a terrific voice so doing the narration adds a bit of class to the film, which is always a good thing. With that said, fans of his certainly aren't the main audience for this picture and it's mainly going to appeal to those who enjoy watching these propaganda films. For the most part I thought the film was well-made and entertaining. It's certainly one of the better examples of the genre as it obviously tells of the damage that the drug does but it also shows us how it's made and we hear about the various ways people sneak it into the country. The documentary claims that 50% of the heroin in this country goes to Harlem and the Bronx and then we get a brief bit on the drug wars in those cities.

This is an anti-drug short chronicling the history of opium. Of course, it starts off with a nod to marijuana. The devil's weed needs to be criminalized at every opportunity. Then it goes through a low light history of opium and its modern derivatives. It is what one expects from these public service educational shorts. They were probably shown to high school classes where the kids can take a nap. It is interesting to see the source of opium being Turkey during this time in history. It is the French Connection. It's a crew cut federal agent telling a story about an ice cream cone. It's a real drug deal going down in the ghetto. It's both fascinating and sleepy time. It's fascinating to see some modern documentary touches and as a time capsule. It's also so old style that it had no chance of speaking to the youths of its day.

This was an odd little short for TCM to play but they did and I somehow got through it. The film is about the so-called 'French Connection' though the movie (which came out a year earlier) was never mentioned. How the port of Marseille and Corsica were involved in the global heroin and marijuana industry was much of the film as well as a bunch of very square folks talking about how bad drugs were. It did seem odd that such a dangerous drug as heroin was somehow linked with pot. Also mentioned is the drug program Synanon and the film sang its praises. Interestingly, only a few years later this California-based drug treatment program would be broken up following widespread reports of organized crimes-- including murders! A strange, cult-like atmosphere apparently permeated their treatment centers!

Overall, a very dull film that has some valuable information, some misinformation and not much that would encourage folks to watch it today.

...and it is interesting to see how much things have changed in 46 years. This was narrated by - of all people - Paul Newman. Some of the material is factual - how heroin gets into the country, its history,etc. And some of it may have been true in 1972 - that most addicts were, at that time, from the inner cities. But these facts are certainly not true today. The opioid addiction problem has, in turn, made heroin a problem in such places as rural Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky - places where middle class jobs have fled and left people feeling desperate and with no options and wanting an escape from reality.

It does a few things that were probably viewed as progressive for the time, such as recommend treatment for addicts rather than just locking them up, the value of a community for ex-users that is similar to AA for alcoholics, and the value of studying the brain activity of addicts to get to the underlying cause of addiction.

It is mainly of historical value at this point in time.