In his 4th report from THE SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL our man on the scene reviews two excellent docos. GRASS is an exceptional film, and one of Father Geek's favorites from the SXSW festival back in March. Classic Capra-like use of your opponent's own propaganda to turn the tables and win the argument. It's like watching WHY WE FIGHT (1943), or WAR COMES TO AMERICA (1945) were the Nazi's own great film footage and words are turned effectively against them... BRILLANT! We're not a family of smokers, but none-the-less this document is a powerful compelling testamony against the government's long war on this herb. GRASS (the motion picture) NEEDS to be seen by all elected officals.

With this set, I'll review two documentaries that cover two of my favorite subjects. Sex and Drugs.

Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes

A very well done documentary about the king of porn. The director of the film Cass Paley, said after seeing Boogie Nights he was inspired to uncover the real truth behind this fascinating person. Boogie Nights (One of my favorite films of the 90's.) is very influence by Holmes' life. Holmes came from an abusive family, left high school, and joined the army at 16. He moved to Hollywood after his stint in the army. Being uneducated, but blessed with something big, he could only turn to one thing, porn. Porno films were in their infancy at that time. However with the help of Holmes they started to become mainstream.

Blessed with a 13" penis, he was destined to be a star. To get the starring role in his first film, he only had to drop his pants for the producer. His most famous porno film, Johnny Wadd, was written on the back of an envelope and made for $750. Soon the public was calling for more of these films about the private dick, with the large dick. They started to crank them out, it took a day to shoot, and they could have them in the theater in a week. This whole time he was married to a nurse who he'd met soon after his move to California. Nobody in the business knew she existed, and she preferred it that way. Although she loved John, she didn't want to be involved with that part of his life. She started to become more of a mother figure, and they were no longer affectionate towards each other.

The success started to get to his head. His manager created elaborate stories about his personal life. John started to believe these stories. Telling people he'd slept with 14,000 women, when it was more like 1,000. The drugs and alcohol also crept into his life. He latched onto a teenage girl, who moved in with him and his wife, he'd drag her along to his drug deals, and abused her frequently. After a successfully stealing a large amount of drugs from a mob boss. He was forced into bringing the mob to his accomplices, he may or may not have been involved in the Wonderland Ave murders. He was soon on the run from the mob and the police. Once caught and declared innocent, he went back into the porno films. But not nearly as successful as before. Being a pioneer, he was one of the first actors to get an HIV test. It came up positive. Doubling his drug use because of it, he was soon dead.

Although I laid out a lot of his life in this review, there are still many facets to John's life. A lot of them being too disturbing to go into here. This is a wonderfully made film. Without the standard use of narration to carry you through the film. It's all interviews of the people in John's life, his wife, manager, film directors, other porn actors (including the great Ron Jeremy), his teenage mistress, his second wife Misty Dawn, Larry Flynt, P.T. Anderson, and many others. He really cut the interviews together well, telling Johns story through them. With some very funny moments where people contradict events. Also intercut in is clips of Johns films, using the porno films to fill in for Johns life. There are also a few old interviews with Holmes, so we can hear it from the man himself.

I'd never seen any of Holmes' films before. It was great to see where P.T. was influenced and stole moments for Boogie Nights. My favorite being John talking about how he blocked his own sex scenes, and then the director saying that he never. Wadd is a great companion piece for Boogie Nights, and I highly recommend it to anyone who can handle the strong content.

Grass

Another very good documentary, following the life of marijuana in America. Introduced to the states in the 20's by Mexican's who brought it up. Soon it was declared unsafe, but was really a way to round up and hassle Mexicans. A drug commissioner by the name of Anslinger was the biggest opponent of the drug, without him who knows if it would even be illegal today. With incredibly manipulative and completely false propaganda he managed to make the drug illegal throughout the country. He continued to fight it into the 70's, until his death. Even with Government research proving that marijuana was relatively harmless, lies continued to be spread. These lies were broken into time pieces, they formed the chapters of the film. #1: If you smoke it, you will kill people. #2: You will go insane. #3: You will become a heroin addict. #4: You will withdrawal from reality. #5: Bad things will happen, (but we don't know what they are.) #6: You will be in the grip of Satan.

There is tons of info in the film. Covering the varying laws that went action, the kinds of people who were smoking it, and footage of music from the different ages. The whole time really pointing out the stupidity of the laws. How without any proof of it ever doing any harm to anyone, it's illegal. The incredibly harsh penalties for just possessing the stuff. How much money has been wasted on fighting a war that can never be won. It kept going back to a speech that the mayor of New York had made about prohibition. He talked about why should the Government enforce a law, that the people do not want enforced. (50 million Americans have smoked dope.)

I felt it was an excellent documentary covering all these facts. Very slickly put together, with great graphics, and stock film footage. It was also a very nice touch to have Woody Harrelson narrate it. My main problem with it, is that it didn't cover the last 20 years. It ended with the Reagan's just saying no. I wanted to know where the laws stand today. Who's fighting these laws? (NORML) Who's still enforcing them? (religious groups, politicians, alcohol and cigarette manufactures) Why the hell is hemp illegal at all? Maybe a suggestion as to what can be done. It's almost like the film makers were saving this all for part 2. I hope they make a second one.

I feel that this is required viewing. They should be showing this film to politicians. We need to overturn one of the stupidest, most useless laws on the book. Our body is our own. The Government should not tell use how we can abuse it. How much of the tax payers money needs to be wasted on continued persecution and prison space, for people that simply want to get wasted?

Optimus Prime signing off.

Optimus Prime Films