Another documentarian is examining life in Fresno. But as far as we know, this one has nothing to do with skateboards and foreclosures.
"The City Addicted to Crystal Meth" -- the work of Louis Theroux -- aired on BBC 2 on Sunday, with Fresno at its center.
Unfortunately, all the videos I've been able to find online are region restricted, meaning us Americans can't watch them. Until one of you video nerds can hack a copy for us, here's the synopsis:
Central Valley, California, is home to some of the most impoverished rural towns in America, where crystal meth addiction is prolific. In Fresno, Louis finds a community ravaged by this cheap and highly addictive drug.
As he infiltrates the town, he experiences the reality of meth abuse, as addicts who are high (or 'tweaking', as it is known) invite him into their homes to see them take hit after hit of their favourite drug. Louis becomes surrounded by the madness of daily addiction and the meth-addled confusion which is breaking this community apart
He sees its impact through the eyes of the local police, and meets Diane and Karl, a couple who have sustained their marriage despite a 25-year meth addiction and losing custody of their five children. He witnesses arrests of sons doing meth with their mothers, and family after family broken apart from generations of meth abuse.
At the Westcare residential centre, Louis sees the work being done to combat the destruction caused by the drug. Run by ex-addicts, it offers a six-month rehab programme. He witnesses the extraordinary challenges they face dealing with meth-addicted families - babies born already hooked, with mothers caring for them while attempting to kick their own habit too.Addiction is laid bare as Louis seeks out the stories and the people behind the drug.
If you're curious: Theroux's previous special, "A Place for Paedophiles" was filmed in Coalinga. His series of BBC documentaries has also included "The Most Hated Family in America".
RELATED
It's good to see that the "Madness Called Meth" project -- a 2000 collaboration between The Fresno, Sacramento and Modesto Bees is still alive on the Internets.
[Kudos to Bradley for the tip on this one]
Oh man. I can't wait to see this. Louis Theroux is one of my favorite documentarians.
One of his BBC documentaries focused on Lamb and Lynx of Prussian Blue- A teen pop-duo from Bakersfield that sings about white power.
It seems that he has taken a liking to the Valley.
Looks good but has anyone ever read "Tweak" by Nic Sheff, or the book "Beautiful Boy" by his father David Sheff? Fresno isnt the most ravaged town due to crystal meth, if anything its the Bay Area or SoCal.
that's what's up. i actually love meth.
Meth vs. Chef
lol @ "coalinga: a place for paedophiles."
it is posted on usenet in alt.binaries.multimedia and alt.binaries.tv
http://nfo.newzbin.com/png/259179601.png?0
so sez the internetz...
My friend from Manchester sent me this link last week. He played rugby in Fresno for a year in 2002 and has been reppin' the 'No in England ever since.
try mininova.org. torrent site. it's there to download. i guess that's what i'll be watching tonight.
Here's the link to Mininova site - it has NSFW ads so be fore warned
http://www.mininova.org/tor/2838660
Great looking out Gil. I was too lazy to add the link.
Parts are up on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO-5c-akHWk
Pretty stupid the way it makes it look like most Fresno families have meth problems... it's also damn depressing.
"This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by British Broadcasting Corporation. "
GIL / MIKE (ALL) clicking on the Mininova site link above drops in one nasty Trojan...
-way to go...
Trojan? Really? Wow. Well I downloaded from mininova [but not using Gil's link and I experienced no problems or trojans]. So if any of you are still interested, get it from mininova, make sure to read the comments of your selected torrent to make sure it isn't a fake [other users usually comment on quality and whether or not there are any things that may be harmful to your PC]. Torrents are the way to go for ANYTHING you want, you just have to be careful and read up on those comments before downloading.
(GIL / Mike / All)
...yeah, well I clicked directly onto your link, I run a pretty tight anti-viral and firewall, and it got blocked and set off alarms like crazy.
Do what you like with your equipment, your choice, I'm just letting you and others know: Trojan.
I'm about 40 minutes into watching this and it is just about the saddest thing I've ever seen.
It's scary too because I feel like I live in this happy go lucky little bubble of a safe neighborhood, but right around the corner ALL THIS "stuff" is going on.
Just 2 weeks ago one of my roommates was attacked and hit on her arms etc out front of Starbucks in Riverpark by some kid high on drugs. Seriously... WTF?!?! Who would expect that? How do you protect yourself?
Certainly documentary doesn't show anything good about Fresno :( Just delves deeper and deeper into the tragedy that is drug addiction and how prevalent it is in the valley.
yes it's available on the torrents
http://www.torrentz.com/1d4069e96efe73b2727636fb49a37414f9348a97
the file is called:
BBC.The.City.Addicted.to.Crystal.Meth.XviD.AC3.MVGroup.org.avi
after you download it, it can play on computers and Dvix enabled video players and PS3 or Xbox 360 live.
but this is not the 1st BBC mention of Fresno in 1969 episode 33 of Monty Python's Flying Circus reference to Fresno in a skit making fun of Sam Peckinpah called 'Salad Days'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vd3jGkxw0c
I downloaded a torrent as well. If you're worried about trojans on Mininova (it's probably an unscrupulous advertiser using spyware scripts with their flash banner ads), use the Firefox browser with the NoScript plugin, and that will protect you (just be careful what sites you whitelist).
Theroux seems to have focused on Southwest Fresno, from what I could tell, including a few shots of tent city.
It's all pretty sad to see just how bad things are for some. It's sad how badly some people mess themselves up with drugs like that.