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I missed this week’s documentary, so thought I’d share my favourite documentary here. 

It’s a rare practice for documentary films to make a film about a subject with a lot of established study behind it, and disregard this completely. This is the case for Oxyana, a film about the town of Oceana in America and the oxycontin abuse rife throughout the area. The film is a prime example of effective documentary filmmaking, in two ways. First, it is affecting for the viewer. Secondly, it is cathartic and important for the subjects.

Despite the tendency to include facts, figures, and statistics within documentary films, the audience cannot truly understand the meaning of such information. The statistics presented, though impressive, are inconceivable to the average viewer – that is, there is no way for them to really understand their impact.

Referring to a human issue with facts and figures alone is a dehumanising process. In order to change the dialogue surrounding a human issue, you must humanise it, and let the people effected speak for themselves.

This is exactly what Oxyana does.

OXYANA TRAILER from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

Tucked in the Appalachian mountains of Southern West Virginia, Oceana, is a small, once thriving coal-mining town that has fallen victim to the fast spreading scourge of prescription painkiller Oxycontin. As the coal industry slowly declined and times got tough, a black market for the drug sprung up and along with it a rash of prostitution, theft and murder. Soon its own residents had nicknamed the town Oxyana and it began to live up to its reputation as abuse, addiction and overdoses became commonplace. Oxyana is a harrowing front line account of a community in the grips of an epidemic, told through the voices of the addicts, the dealers and all those affected. It is a haunting glimpse into an American nightmare unfolding before our eyes, a cautionary tale told with raw and unflinching honesty.

Winner of Best New Documentary Director, Tribeca Film Festival 2013

Special Jury Mention for Best Documentary, Tribeca Film Festival 2013

Devoid of any statistics, or even hard facts, the film is composed solely of interviews with the townspeople of Oxyana, many of whom are current users of oxycontin, who speak about the impact that the drug has had upon their lives and the people around them. They illuminate the ways that people are introduced to the drug, how it is so addictive, some even shooting up on screen. The viewer sees the impact it has has on these people, and the suffering it has caused them because they are brought face to face with those affected as they tell their own story. There is no narrator, no crew presence. In a way it is as though these people are speaking directly to you, sharing their story. In this way, real empathy comes in, as the viewer is allowed a true connection and understanding with the people on screen and the issue they are presented with.

This is the documentary filmmaking style which I believe to be the most effective in creating meaningful change.

Further to this, the film was an emotionally cathartic experience for the subjects. Many documentaries are made in the vein of ‘poverty porn’ or ‘documentary tourism’ wherein subjects’s stories are taken without intent to give back to the subjects or affect real change. Subjects are narrated over, devoid of true agency in their own stories. Oxyana was afforded such deep interaction and access to the townspeople of Oceana because of their unique approach in letting their subjects speak freely without the intention of imposing another dialogue over the top. Many filmmakers had tried to create the same documentary, however had been met with resistance, as their approach sought to inflict another narrative, showcase the people and town as nothing more than one a freak show of ‘dirty drug addicts.’ The approach that Oxyana took was to give the subjects agency over their own story, show them with empathy, and in this way, telling these stories became a very cathartic process for the subjects, and as more and more townspeople found out about this, more came forward actively seeking to participate in the film.

Documentaries should never solely be about the end product, about the film, the story. In order to be affecting, truthful, and empathetic, they must first and foremost be about the people.

 

Watch the full film online here: