Pick #749
Jenner Furst & Julia Willoughby Nason · United States of America · English
A gripping Netflix true crime documentary about a family man's vigilante murder investigation and his battle against the American opioid crisis
2020 Show Crime, Documentary
Our take
We call it a Netflix true crime documentary, but, in fact, this compelling four-parter is much more than that. It homes in on the fate of an immensely empathetic, soft-spoken, and likable family man, who loses his teenage son to drug-related violence in New Orleans’ notorious Lower 9th Ward in 1999. With corruption rampant in the city’s police department, he takes matters into his own hands and investigates his son’s murder by himself.
In doing so, main protagonist Dan Schneider notices a rise in opioid prescriptions from one doctor in particular. Fueled by a relentless determination to protect other children from addiction, he quits his job and begins gathering evidence against this doctor and, by extension, the company responsible for the sale of the notorious opioid-based painkiller Oxycodone: Purdue Pharma. In the course of his investigation, Schneider records all his findings, evidence, and intimate thoughts on audio and video. This sense of immediacy and the pretty breathtaking twists of his story make this Netflix production rise above other true crime formats. It uses the power and charisma of one individual to come to grips with a crisis of global proportions.
What it won
Berlin
1 nom
The story
After his son's tragic death, a Louisiana pharmacist goes to extremes to expose the rampant corruption behind the opioid addiction crisis.
Elsewhere
"Arkin, in his film bow, is absolutely outstanding as the courtly Russian who kisses a lady's hand even as he draws a gun."
— Variety Staff
The details
Who picked it
Bilal Zouheir is the founder of A Good Movie to Watch. He is based in the US and a member of the Nevada Film Critics Society. He grew up in Morocco, where he learned English from watching movies. Bilal's work with A Good Movie to Watch is focused on offering an alternative to streaming algorithms, which are often used as commercial tools by streaming services.
