Requiem for a Dream, a 2000 film movie adaptation from the novel written by Hubert Selby Jr., proves to have a powerful impact on all its viewers. Despite the honest graphics, everyone should take the time to see this movie to remind themselves how drugs can impact your life.

Set in New York City, four people, including Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn), Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto), Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly), and Tyrone C. Love (Marlon Wayans), have their lives utterly ruined from their addiction to drugs. Ranging from diet pills to heroin to even prostitution, it shows how extreme people will go to fix their lives that are already destroyed.

For example, Marion Silver begins to panic when money is low and there are no drugs to sell. Her dream of opening a store to sell her fashion designs seems impossible. Desperate for an income, she begins her new life of prostitution. As many men watch her well-being deteriorate for heroin and cash, it is evident that she lost her dream and that her life will never be the same.


Most people start to wonder what sorts of adventures would happen if they experimented with a drug just once. Once reaching an all time “high,” most people will try as hard as they can to reach that point once again. Although some may keep their drug use in control, most people get tied up in the addiction that drug use guarantees to bring as well.

This movie has changed my life for the better. Each moment keeps you on edge, wondering what will happen next. Seeing other people’s lives fall apart from drug use actually brings you back to reality: using drugs is bad, and the consequences for it seem endless.

Even though it changed my life, this movie is not for everyone. If you’re squeamish and are easily disgusted by certain images, Requiem for a Dream may not be the best movie for you to watch. It is always important to remember what a drug really is.

(Rated R)