Requiem for a Dream

I've always been really interested in stories that show why and how a human being can change, be it through redemption or through folly. This movie depicts the fall of 4 characters as they gradually become addicted to drugs.

As a TV-obsessed widow that succumb to madness and becomes addicted to diet pills, Ellen Burstyn gives hands down one of the best performances I've ever seen. She is either sad or overjoyed, pathetic and helpless and she'll make your heart scream with pain.
Jared Leto (as the son), Jennifer Connelly (as the girlfriend), Marlon Wayans (as a friend) are all heroïn/cocaïne addicted, and this addiction is the starting point of their hopes, and unfortunately, of their demises. Thier acting performance are excellent too.

The four character all have their hopes, their lives, they all want to do something to impress or protect the ones they love and their dreams first crack and then shatter to pieces. I've been impressed by the short flashes depicting the heroin injections or the pills ingestion : they don't last more than a couple seconds but amplify the fact that the addiction is settling in and is a part of their lives. In this light, the last scene has crushed me to my seat: the downward spiral is spinning faster and faster and the fall is really hard on the viewer. All four characters have predictably failed to save themselves.

A very beautiful movie that I would recommend everyone to see and I can assure you that if this movie does not change you, it will at least give you food for thought.