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INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR MICHEL NEGROPONTE
What compelled you to want to make the film?
What compelled me is several things really. I've had a few friends who died because of heroin addiction including my sister-in-law. So I have lived through the pain and horror of addiction. I know how it impacts the immediate family, and it's a nightmare.
I also have two teenage children and, in part, I made the film for them and all their friends. Teenagers are invariably introduced to the world of drugs and alcohol and I want them to see the lasting impact of abuse.
The other reason I made the film is that for the last 15 years, all the films I've made have been about New York City. I live here and it's effectively my backyard. I want to put together a body of work that explores my city.
How did you find the people in the film, and how did you gain their trust?
I have a friend, Dr. Ira Kramer, who's been working in the field of drug addiction for years, and he started the New York Center for Addiction Treatment Services (N.Y.C.A.T.S.). So about two and half years ago, I asked him if I could stop by and see some of the work he was doing. It was Ira who introduced me to Millie, one of the group leaders at N.Y.C.A.T.S.
Millie invited me to sit in on one of her groups. This was in the summer of 2003. I spent about two months visiting the group several times a week. I arrived without a video camera and I listened. That's how I got to meet the various people in the group and that's essentially where the film began.
I should add that there was a certain amount of suspicion and wariness. Some of them assumed I was a narc. But you know, I'm fairly persistent and friendly, and I got to know these guys very well. In truth, most of them feel very strongly about sharing their stories because if one young person abusing drugs sees this film and manages to stop, we will all feel very
proud.
How long did you shoot for?
I filmed on and off over a period of 18 months. Because N.Y.C.A.T.S. is about 5 or 6 blocks from where I live, it was very easy for me to check in on the group. Even though I assumed I would be shooting for a long period of time, access and proximity are very important.
When I started I knew I wanted to make a documentary about addiction and recovery, but the exact story that I would pursue was still unknown to me. I heard in the first couple of weeks that some of the people in the group who were on methadone were also struggling with pill addictions. It was something I knew nothing about. That's how I learned about the combination of benzodiazapines ("benzos") and methadone. You can combine prescription drugs and improvise a high that's like any illegal opiate. But it ends up becoming a new addiction and a new disaster.
You're really shinning a light on something that many people are completely unaware of.
It's not even clear to me now how well-known this is within the medical community. Some people have suggested that this has only come to light quite recently. So some doctors may not even know the liability of prescribing benzos to people on methadone. Anyway, that's how I gradually began to focus my story on people in the group who were on methadone and also struggling with pills.
In general, when I start a film project I know it may end up in a very different place than I ever anticipated. So filmmaking for me is really a process. Simply by being there, and listening, participating in discussions, and getting to know the characters, I stumbled across an important story.
Some of the moments are painful to watch. What is it like getting as close as you do to your subjects? It must take a lot out of you.
It's the hardest thing in the world. And I don't think that anyone who has never done this kind of thing can fully understand it. I mean, aiming a camera at someone's face is not easy. Aiming a camera at someone's face when they are bearing their soul is even more difficult. I've been a filmmaker long enough to know when it's critical to keep filming. I also know when it's inappropriate, and there are times I put the camera and don't film at all. I'm human and I react to the things that are happening in front of me. It can be very hard.
But you know I spend most of the time with the camera at my side or in my lap. I listen and watch, and when something starts to happen that seems important, I pick the camera up and begin to shoot. Unlike most documentary filmmakers, I actually shoot very little. It allows the subjects of the film to consider me a human presence, not merely a camera person on the periphery of their story. And I think it also allows for a kind of intimacy that may simply not be there if I didn't give myself the opportunity to hang out and spend time with the subjects instead of just aiming a camera at them.
You emphasize this notion that recovery is a life-long process for most methadone addicts, and the connection between addiction and disease.
I think it's really important. Possibly the most important message of the film. When I started the film, I'd heard people refer to addiction and alcoholism as a disease, but I didn't fully understand it. You know, we think of diseases as something that you catch or are exposed to, and that if you take the right kind of medicine, you're cured. But, clearly, this is a very different type of disease. And, I recognized during the
making of the film that a person who
has used opiates for a long period of time may have changed their own biochemistry.
There are people in the medical profession today who work in the world of addiction who say that many people on methadone will most likely have to be on methadone maintenance for life. I understand that much more clearly now. The disease of addiction is like
diabetes in the sense that a diabetic has to be on insulin for life. Most addicts are in treatment for life. Addiction isn't something you just walk away from.
Do you feel like it benefited the people who were involved?
I hope people get a much better understanding of what recovery really is. I think that most lay people have this idea that if someone is an addict, and they decide they want to clean up their act, they go into detox and rehab, and several months later they get a job and their life moves on. Because Methadonia focuses on middle aged and older addicts you see quite clearly that's not always the case. The grip of addiction can be so intense that some people struggle with recovery for years. They relapse, then clean up, and then use again. Recovery can be a long bumpy road.
What do you hope audiences will take away from the film?
My biggest hope is that they will have a greater empathy for addicts. I think that the plight of the addict is understated. Kicking an addiction can be like climbing Mt. Everest without an oxygen tank and on crutches. The people in Methadonia have been addicted for years to every drug under the sun. But they're still trying to get clean, and I think that's quietly heroic.
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