Grass (1999 film)

Infobox Film
name = Grass


caption = Promotional artwork for "Grass"
writer = Solomon Vesta
executive producer = Keith Clarkson
narrator = Woody Harrelson
director = Ron Mann
producer = Ron Mann
cinematography = Robert Fresco
editing = Robert Kennedy
distributor = Unapix Home Entertainment
released = flagicon|Canada 15 September, 1999 "(at the Toronto Film Festival)".
flagicon|United States Limited realse (10 theaters): 27 May, 2000
U.S wide realse: 31 May - 16 June, 2000
amg_id = 1:181372
imdb_id = 0214730

"Grass: History of Marijuana" is a 1999 Canadian documentary film directed by Ron Mann, premiered in Toronto Film Festival, about the history of the United States government's war on marijuana in the 20th century.

Overview

The film places much of the blame for marijuana criminalization on Harry Anslinger (the first American drug czar) who promoted false information about marijuana to the American public as a means towards abolition.

The film follows the history of federal policies and social attitudes towards marijuana, beginning at the turn of the twentieth century. The history presented is broken up into parts, approximately the length of a decade. Each decade is introduced by paraphrasing the official attitude towards marijuana at the time (e.g. "Marijuana will make you insane" or "Marijuana will make you addicted to heroin"), and closed by providing a figure for the amount of money spent during that period on the "war on marijuana."

The film is completely [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0214730/trivia Grass (1999) - Trivia ] ] composed of archival footage, much of which is from public domain U.S propaganda films and feature films such as "Reefer Madness" made available by the Prelinger Archives. The documentary was narrated, free-of-charge [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0214730/trivia Grass (1999) - Trivia ] ] , by actor Woody Harrelson.

Critical reception

The film was generally well-received by critics, scoring 64 out of 100 in Metacritic [ [http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/grass?q=Grass Grass (2000): Reviews ] ] , and 71% 'fresh' on Rotten Tomatoes [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1097829-grass/ Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes ] ] .The film became a cult hit within the cannabis subculture, and received many good reviews by viewers (Metacritic's users gave the film 9.2 out of 10).

The film has also won Canada's Genie Award for Best Documentary.

References

External links

*amg movie|id=1:181372|title=Grass
*imdb title|id=0214730|title=Grass
*rotten-tomatoes|id=1097829-grass|title=Grass
* [http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=grass.htm Grass] at Box Office Mojo

ee also

* Decriminalization of marijuana in the United States
* Legal and medical status of cannabis
*Legal history of marijuana in the United States
* Marijuana rescheduling in the United States