Requiem for a Dream

Requiem for a Dream is a cinematic masterpiece that depicts the consequences of drug abuse concerning in today's society. The movie revolves around four (Harry, Sarah, Marion, and Tyrone) New York natives and their crazy experience with illicit/legal drugs; cocaine, heroin, and diet pills. Some of the characters turn to drugs in hopes of finding happiness or merely do it for social purposes. However, the euphoric drug effect they enjoyed so much, eventually led to a serious addiction problem, that drastically changed their lives forever.

The setting of this movie is in Brooklyn, New York, in a middle-class neighborhood where drugs were readily available. The movie opens up with one of the main characters (Harry Goldfarb) shouting and taking his mother's (Sara Goldfarb) television set to the pawn shop. This deviant behavior was a monthly routine of his in order to obtain money for drugs. Harry was an unemployed junkie who lived in a decent, but small apartment with his best friend Tyrone. The next scene shows the first substance (heroin) abuse used by Harry and Tyrone. The scene is represented in a very artistic way; we see cut-off images that symbolize elements of heroin intake. For example, they show both of the characters dancing around foolishly and their pupils being dilated right after the drug enters their bodies. This gives the viewers the idea of the physical and mental effects being under the influence of drugs. Heroin was their primary choice of drug, although throughout the movie we also see other substances being used by Harry and his surroundings; cocaine and marijuana.

As the movie progresses, one evening Harry, Tyrone, and Marion (Harry's girlfriend) all discuss their future endeavors and how they can become successful. Thus, they decide to sell cocaine in order to accomplish their goals and to become financially stable. In the beginning they succeed and make plenty of money to start off other businesses, however towards the end their business fails due to lack of drug supplies. This caused many conflicts within the group and negatively impacted their lives. Harry and Marion's relationship begin to deteriorate, once he encourages Marion into prostitution to fund for more drugs. In last attempt to scoring big, Harry and Tyrone take a trip to Florida to seek out more drugs, although they finally get arrested and end up being in jail.

At this point all three characters are extremely addicted to drugs and go through the painful experience of withdrawal. A good example of this is shown in jail, where Tyrone and Harry are waiting in line for their assigned work. Out of all the prisoners standing, Harry and Tyrone stood out the most because of their peculiar appearance. Their skin looked extremely pale and frail as if they were about to pass out. They were also unable to function properly and were vomiting all over the place. This portrays the negative effects their bodies were experiencing without the drugs. Another example is when Marion had difficulty falling asleep. The scene shows her tossing and turning every second in bed, as result of her body craving for more drugs. Sadly, the drugs