Over the Rainbow: 'Hazard'
Too many needles, too little hope.
Dear Moviegoers,
Deep in the Appalachia region of America, where coal miner pride is felt strongly, small communities are suffering from the opioid crisis—as are many others across the country. Hazard is a drama about one such town, devastated by economic depression and little to no resources. An area where nothing improves no matter how hard you work or how much you pray. An area where escape only comes from prescriptions and pharmacists, a booming industry for those that can get away with it.
And who can stop them?
Hazard is not a film about stopping these troubles in any significant way, nor does it offer any solutions in the long term. It’s kind of like A Scanner Darkly but starkly real, or rather set as real as things have been. A lone police officer with few others on his team struggles to contain and maintain the ongoing and worsening problem. His brother-in-law with dreams of leaving town is selling pills and using himself. His sister has demons of her own, and his nephew’s future is on the line. Will there be a conflict or crash?
Not really, as the cop isn’t the central figure of the film. I imagined a story where the brother-in-law Will - played with harrowing and shocking sadness by Alex Roe - would team with the cop to take down a syndicate or something, as was suggested toward the middle of the movie. But Hazard knows reality much better than that. Filmmaker Eddie Mensore knows that, in small-town America, there is no mob outfit or major drug ring. There are desperate dealers, immoral doctors, and blind-eye pharmacists, operating right out in the open. Mensore crafts and composes his film around this “Wild West” type notion of “it’s just how things are.” Hopelessness has won.
For example, a slow-moving shot of a woman in bed, from feet to face, features a fly that lands on her leg for a good while, before flying away. For a moment, she’s thought to have overdosed. She hasn’t, but an idea that began with an insect associated with trash and decay gave life to a tragedy in the making. Rooftops where accidental death or suicide is suggested, dark rooms for shooting up as empty spaces for shamed contemplation, and more offer a beguiling take on the drug epidemic genre. It’s a near masterpiece in mood and tension.
A similar story that was unfortunately titled Shooting Heroin, is the apex of bad movies about worse addictions. Schmaltzy and blunt as anything has ever been, that left me an angry wreck of a person and an enraged variation of a critic. Hazard is very thankfully well done, affecting, and tight.
It concludes sooner than expected, but maybe that’s a stumper for everyone to simmer over. Nothing is easy, cold turkey is dangerous, and assistance can’t always be depended on. Wrap up nicely, the film doesn’t. And that’s all too true.
Can we do better tomorrow? 3/5
Hazard is now screening in the New Orleans area at Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge.
Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
⚜️🍿
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