Grass

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious
Review: This funny and hilarious doc gives a clear overview of the war on cannabis in the US. Great footage, a good story and lots of fun.

Rating:
Summary: Great film on GANJA
Review: This is a great funny movie about the lost "war on drugs", and show how stupid and hipocrit is the prohibition of Marijuana in the States and consequently elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Simply A Superb Documentary for Anyone or those in Atlanta!
Review: This movie was very enjoyable especially after multiple viewings. it seems to fallen into obscurity, as I had never heard about it when it was released in late 1999; really a shame.

First off, I am not into "illegal drugs." I am libertarian, but I find the Libertarian Party party plank of ending the Drug War a turn-off for many people who are politically lost and looking for another political party alternative to the part and parcel Demopublicans. My pressing one-issue-hot-button, in all honesty, is high taxes at all forms that most Americans endure. Taxes are atrociously high and people are not up in arms, as they should be. That is my perspective for the reader. One note as a skeptic, I do not know how accurate the numbers in Grass point out about how much the War on Marijuana costs the US government decade by decade.

This documentary puts Michael Moore to shame. I do not know of Ron Mann, but he definitely should crank out more documentaries. The selections for the soundtrack of the Grass make me want to go buy it on CD. Alas and alack, I haven't yet. I bought the DVD version of Grass. The only drawback of the DVD; I wish it had extras, such as deleted scenes. A nice touch is when viewing the chapters grouped in fours, you hear music from a particular era, such as 1930s, 1940s, etc.

Some good highlights contained within. The propaganda films warning Americans how EVIL the weed is. Those were just classic. Examples, such as Reefer Madness from the 1930s. Then some educational film shown in the public schools in the 1950s. Two words to sum up propaganda films: so campy!

Another interesting highlight: As a kid, I enjoyed John Lennon's music, so when I saw the clip of Lennon singing about "John Sinclair", asking for his release due to marijuana possession, I finally understood what the lyrics meant. As a kid, I had watched specials on John Lennon shortly after his death in 1980 and at the time, had no clue what it had meant when he sang "John Sinclair" in concert. Gan-ja, Gan-ja!

The well-done graphics are suberb and the cuts in between scenes are tight and pleasant to view and hear. The DVD and VHS have good sound quality. One of the most hilarous scenes, classically comical, was how the smoking-like-a-chimney police officer in the 1950s was talking about how they deal with addicts while puffing away in a huge cloud of smoke.

I live in metro Atlanta and after watching the Grass a few times, I noticed lots of the vintage material such as newscasts was taken from Atlanta area, particularly Channel 2, WSB. I remember that white microphone with the red 2 when watching the news in the late 70s and early 80s. Scenes around metro Atlanta probably appear at least a half a dozen times throughout this Grass: 1950s, and 1970s era. A fun example of Atlanta: A blonde female reporter for channel 2, probably dated late 70s, is standing outside Fulton Court House on Pryor Street with various outtakes is smug and amusing to the viewer. Ron Mann approaches some footage with such outtakes from old newsreels, that were of course, cut by the editors, because of pauses or stutterings; this showing of footage that was cut in the editing room probably is used to show how "rehearsed" some of the reporting appears to be. The inclusion of cut scenes in-of-themselves is very amusing and clever approach in documentaries. Listen closely to the abrupt sound of a whip popping up in the edits as you watch. Simply clever.

I write this proudly as a big documentary fan, as about 90% of my DVD purchases and rentals are in documentary form. This is definitely one of my favorites and it is well worth your purchase.

Rating:
Summary: Hey dude, pass the..er- videotape!
Review: Unique, well-produced documentary dealing (no pun intended) with the history of marijuana criminalization in the United States. Far from a dry history lesson, the film takes a Michael Moore-style approach-building its own "counter-myth" by exposing the hypocrisy of the anti-marijuana propaganda machine over the years, from the 1930's infamous "Reefer Madness" movie to the Reagan administration's sophmoric "Just Say No" media campaign of the 1980's. There is also a fascinating on-going tally of all the tax money the government's various law-enforcement agencies have wasted attempting to eradicate marijuana usage since the days of Elliott Ness. The film's masterful use of well-chosen period music, hilariously ironic film clips and outstanding sound editing recalls the award winning 80's documentary about the Cold War, "The Atomic Cafe". Actor Woody Harrelson (who's had his own infamous, herb-related off-screen legal problems) does a bang-up job with the narration. Even if you disagree with the politics, you're likely to find this one quite informative and "highly" (er-sorry!) entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Must See Video
Review: We live in the most free democracy in the history of the world, but we allowed ourselves to be lied to about marijuana. Remember Abraham Lincoln, "one can fool all the people some of the time, some of the people all the time, but not all the people all the time." Regardless of your political position on marijuana, learn the truth. I, for one, am tired of being lied to.

Rating:
Summary: Great Documentary
Review: What a great... wait where am I? How the heck did I end up here?

Rating:
Summary: Great Documentary
Review: What a great... wait where am I? How the heck did I end up here?

Rating:
Summary: SLY STONER PROPAGANDA
Review: Woody Harrelson narrates Ron Mann's whimsical GRASS (Home Vision Entertainment), an often one-sided look at the government's 70 year campaign to outlaw and vilify cannabis. Period newsreels and government documents reveal a systematic program of misinformation in an attempt to justify the billions spent on the misguided war on drugs. If this turns you on, check out the new "addiction" of the 1936 unintentionally hysterical marijuana scare film REEFER MADNESS (Fox), now colorized and restored with a funny commentary by Mike Nelson of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" fame.

Rating:
Summary: SLY STONER PROPAGANDA
Review: Woody Harrelson narrates Ron Mann's whimsical GRASS (Home Vision Entertainment), an often one-sided look at the government's 70 year campaign to outlaw and vilify cannabis. Period newsreels and government documents reveal a systematic program of misinformation in an attempt to justify the billions spent on the misguided war on drugs. If this turns you on, check out the new "addiction" of the 1936 unintentionally hysterical marijuana scare film REEFER MADNESS (Fox), now colorized and restored with a funny commentary by Mike Nelson of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" fame.

Rating:
Summary: Good Docu, GREAT Visuals!
Review: Yes, this documentary is an unashamed pro salute to the spidery green hoppy-plant. It is also a very good one, and spotlights the most ludricrous arguments against decriminilization of the wacky weed.

This film explains how early 20th century lawmakers used every tool from racial and ethnic prejudice, intimidation, exaggeration, and censorship in order to portray marijuana as an extremely dangerous drug.

There is fascinating film footage covering New York's Mayor LaGuardia's unbiased six year study on the effects of marijuana, and the subsequent efforts of narcotic agent Anslinger's efforts to silence the findings.

Art direction by underground art legend Paul Mavrides, and visual editing by David Biedny deserves mention because this flick is awesome to watch. The animation and graphics riddling the video throughout are a very hep work of art in itself.

In summary, this video is propaganda for fans of grass. If you want a truly balanced general view of drug laws in the United States, look for The History Channel's recent documentary series. But whether you are pro or anti pot, and are focused enough to analyze both sides of the argument, this film is mandatory viewing for the documented facts and the newsreel footage alone, some of which I have not seen elsewhere.