Example Of Film Review: Requiem For A Dream Essay

"Requiem for a Dream" is a psychological drama which was directed by Darren Aronofsky. The movie depicts the life story of four main characters: Sara Goldfarb, her son Harry Goldfarb, Harry's girlfriend Marion Silver, and their friend Tyrone C. Love.
Sarah Goldfarb is an old widow who lives alone in her apartment on Brighton Beach Brooklyn, spending the majority of her time watching television. Her son, Harry, shows up at her house to steal different things, including his mother's favorite TV, and sell them in order to get money and buy drugs. Sarah buys all the things from pawn offices and lombards back and her life seems to be desperate and meaningless.
However, everything dramatically changes when she gets a phone call from a television studio and is invited to participate in one of her favorite shows. She decides to dye her hair in red color and put on her favorite red dress to take part in the show so as to look like a million dollars, but Sarah discovers that the dress became too tight for her. As a result, the woman decides to lose weight by taking special pills that contain amphetamines, which lead to traumatizing hallucinations and irreversible consequences for the woman' s health and mind.
The other three characters, Harry Goldfarb, Marion Silver, and Tyrone Love are al heroin addicts that are ready to do anything in order to get money for another dose. Harry Goldfarb steals from his mother. His girlfriend, Marion Silver, participates in private sex shows to get drug supplies from her pimp. All of the three friends have nothing to do but enter the illegal drug trade to continue doing drugs. All in all, these characters get themselves into a mess and Tyrone Love gets imprisoned for their grim business.
Drug addiction completely and dramatically changes lives of all characters and leads to irreversible consequences with regard to their interpersonal relations, social life and other aspects. Because of taking weight-loss pills containing amphetamines, Sarah Goldfarb loses touch with reality. She simply does not realize what happens around. What is even more, she loses her friends as they cannot understand what is happening with Sarah. Her cherished dream to get into her favorite red dress and all measures she takes to fulfill that dearest wish affects Sarah's psychotic state as well as her physical well-being. Consequently, Sarah Goldfarb is given electroconvulsive therapy, that turns out to be quite unsuccessful. and causes her to completely lose her sanity.
Harry Goldfarb and his girlfriend Marion are addicted to heroin which ruins their lives. Heroin addiction affects their interpersonal relations as both characters do terrible things, hurting each other, in order to get another dose of drugs. However, drug addiction has a negative effect not only on their relations but also on Harry's job opportunities and material well-being as he is not able to find a well-paid job. This fact forces him to engage in criminal activity, particularly in drug dealing. Another fact that should be taken into consideration is that heroin injections result into amputation of Harry's arm, which makes him a disabled person.
Heroin addiction also forces Marion to engage in business of crime. She not only helps her boyfriend and his friend in drug dealing and distribution, but she also participates in illegal sex activities to get some money for heroin injections. In actual fact, when their criminal business activity fails and they have no more money, her lovely boyfriend suggests Marion to have sex with her psychiatrist in order to earn money. Obviously, this fact negatively affects their relations and eventually leads to breakup. Harry leaves his girlfriend after giving her the contacts of a pimp who could provide her with drugs. To put it simply, Marion becomes a prostitute because of the heroin addiction, which has an extremely negative effect on her emotional and psychological well-being.
All of the characters are, including Tyrone Love, are profoundly affected by their addiction. Tyrone gets imprisoned for dealing drugs and acutely suffers in prison as he has to deal with imprisonment at hard labor, racist prison guards, and drug withdrawal syndrome.
All of the characters portrayed in the film "Requiem for a Dream" also suffer from numerous psychological issues and psychiatric problems, including anxiety, depressive syndrome, and feeling of hopelessness.
It also should be taken into consideration that characters' drug addiction affects not only their mental and physical health as well as their education and work opportunities, but it also has a profound effect on individuals around them and communitty taken as a whole. Harry's mother is hurt by her son's involvement with drugs as he steals from her house and she has to buy these things back over and over again. What makes matters worse is that she simply does not know how to help her son.
When Harry's mother becomes addicted to pills containing amphetamines and he realizes that this is a real amphetamine addiction, he tries to help his mother. However, Harry is not able to help her get over the addiction, which makes him feel even more desperate and depressed.
Harry's actions also hurt his lovely girlfriend as he makes her engage in prostitution to earn money so that they can get another dose of heroin.
The community is also affected by the characters' involvement with drugs as they engage in criminal activity. One of their drug deals results into gunfire, which is a socially dangerous act. Moreover, their activities related to drug dealing trigger the distribution and spread of drugs over the community they live in. Because of their criminal activity Harry and Tyrone get imprisoned, which also affects individuals around them as well as the community in general.
In my opinion, the portrayal of characters in psychological drama "Requiem for a Dream" is quite realistic. In the first place, this film clearly and accurately depicts the consequences of drug abuse. It is an ascertained fact that the majority of drug addicts tend to steal from their families and lived ones in order to get another dose of drug.
Negative physical consequences are also extremely wide-spread among heroin and other drug addicts. The scene that portrays amputation of Harry's arm, particularly his emotional and physical sufferings, seem to me extremely realistic.
What is more, every day we hear stories of drug addicts who become involved in criminal activities, particularly in drug dealing in distribution. "Requiem for a Dream" correctly depicts the process of this criminal activity and its consequences, including gun shootings and imprisonment of the main characters.
What also makes psychological drama "Requiem for a Dream" realistic to audience is the portrayal of conditions the main characters live in. In the majority of cases, drug addicts lose their jobs, sell everything they have and become economically disadvantaged and desperate, just like all of the characters in the film.
Another fact that makes the film realistic is the portrayal of interpersonal relations between characters. In my opinion, the film perfectly portrays how characters hurt each other and bring about hardships. The scene of breakup between Harry and Marion is not only extremely touching, but also makes us think of consequences of drug addiction and our lives as a whole. All in all, feelings, emotions, and sufferings of the main characters look extremely true to life.