When the Drugs Don't Work
- TV Movie
- 2007
- 25m
YOUR RATING
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Featured review
Interesting insight into the suffering of others
48000 teenagers in the UK suffer with daily chronic pains that prevent them leading a normal life. For some drugs can offer no relief and they find themselves trying a course in pain management that tries to train those to control and live with pain attacks. This film looks at the challenge facing the individuals and families dealing with painful disease in normal life and as they join the course.
One of the strength of the New Shoots films is that the short document films have been quite released from the pressure to find a mass audience (and indeed Channel 4 haven't been looking for one in an early Sunday morning slot). This means that it has been allowed to focus on personal or smaller scale subjects that perhaps wouldn't get the full 60 minutes at 9pm treatment. That's not to say that this is always a good thing but in this case it does provide a personal insight into an issue that, had I just heard a few lines about, I would probably dismiss as "yeah, all kids get sick".
The film does a reasonably good job of presenting the unseen pain to the viewer and showing what the families and individuals have to deal with. In regards the course itself, I'm not sure if I was totally convinced by how effective it was you can hear the subjects talk about the change but the film doesn't do that good a job of showing it. It makes up for this by pointing out the changes at the end though, so maybe I'm being a bit over critical.
Overall though it is a good documentary as it provides an insight into a challenging situation for part of the community. God knows we all watch shows that highlight the lives of others in a negative, voyeuristic way so one that presents it in an interesting way that doesn't look down on any party.
One of the strength of the New Shoots films is that the short document films have been quite released from the pressure to find a mass audience (and indeed Channel 4 haven't been looking for one in an early Sunday morning slot). This means that it has been allowed to focus on personal or smaller scale subjects that perhaps wouldn't get the full 60 minutes at 9pm treatment. That's not to say that this is always a good thing but in this case it does provide a personal insight into an issue that, had I just heard a few lines about, I would probably dismiss as "yeah, all kids get sick".
The film does a reasonably good job of presenting the unseen pain to the viewer and showing what the families and individuals have to deal with. In regards the course itself, I'm not sure if I was totally convinced by how effective it was you can hear the subjects talk about the change but the film doesn't do that good a job of showing it. It makes up for this by pointing out the changes at the end though, so maybe I'm being a bit over critical.
Overall though it is a good documentary as it provides an insight into a challenging situation for part of the community. God knows we all watch shows that highlight the lives of others in a negative, voyeuristic way so one that presents it in an interesting way that doesn't look down on any party.
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- bob the moo
- Jul 12, 2007
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- Runtime25 minutes
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