Just so...so bad

A Major Disappointment

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Nettie Wild (director of A Place Called Chiapas) uses guerilla film-making techniques & dynamic editing, in telling the story of one of Canada's most urgent problems. Wild focuses on Vancouver's East Side, Canada's ground zero of heroin use, and site of the highest HIV infection rate in N.America. Fix spotlights charismatic addict Dean Wilson and city worker Ann Livingston, capturing the enormous scope of the problem facing the two advocates, as they struggle to open a safe-injection centre while feeding one another's emotional addictions. Explosive, confrontational and highly engrossing- Fix sidesteps sentimentality and rips open our hypocritical stance about addicts and drug addiction. Don't let the subject matter scare you. This is a hopeful,honest, and must-see film.

Fix tells the story of the torturous progress of the campaign to set up a safe-injection site for hard drug users in Vancouver's bombed-out downtown east side. The film does a good job to concentrate on two strong narrative stories relating to the fight: Mayor (at the time) Phillip Owen's struggle to pass harm-reduction legislation through city council and social worker Ann Livingston's relentless advocacy for the city's drug users. While many graphic scenes of heroin injection may not make Fix the best choice for the squeamish, Fix is a fast-moving and completely absorbing look at the political and personal dimensions of an out-of-control hard drug use culture in a North American city. Another appealing feature of this documentary is the fair hearing given to opponents of safe injection sites in the city, a route that many less-honest documentaries do not take.If you catch the film during its cross-Canada tour you will get a chance to participate in an interesting open forum afterwards with people involved in the film.

In the Okanagan, the show opened in Oliver, then ran in Vernon, Penticton and had ten shows in Kelowna, where, with the exceptions of the late shows, out-sold the opening weekend of X-2: X-Men United.The interactive forums provided a fantastic opportunity to relate the problems in Vancouver to smaller communities, where the drug culture is more hidden, but just as deadly. Well worth the price of admission, especially if you can get to one of the forums.WARNING: This is not Disney! The language is the language of the street,and the film depicts graphic intravenous drug use. That being said, every person over the age of 14 with any sense of community NEEDS to see this show.

It was a privilege to watch this film this evening. The format of having the Director, Nettie Wild, hold a forum at the end worked well. A street nurse and a less then credible candidate for mayor of Vancouver provided some stimulating debate. But the real story is the tale of a city and a departing mayor who accepted the need to treat addicts as people, to show them that their lives do have meaning,and that they have a right to live and flourish and not be excommunicated by those blessed with limited tolerance.A difficult film to watch but so rewarding.