Montana Meth paints a disturbing portrait

By Nate Traylor - Leader Staff

Disturbing — that is the word that keeps popping up when people discuss Montana Meth, a new documentary that plunges the viewer deep into the sordid lives of addicts.

Last week, filmmaker Eames Yates was on hand in Missoula at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival to promote this collaborative effort between HBO and the Montana Meth Project. The result is a harrowing look at what is being touted as one of the most devastating and available drugs in recent history, and it’s found right in our own backyard.

“It’s just really available,” says a twentysomething cruising with friends in Kalispell. The vehicle is filled with young junkies, each taking turns shooting each other up — a common scenario in the movie.

The driver declares that “It’s the drug to do” shortly before his friend, Crystal, takes a syringe to her neck to shoot an artery full of methamphetamine.

“I can’t even feel my face,” she says after shooting up. “I feel better than any sober person has felt in their whole life.”

Crystal is one of about a half dozen young people prominently featured in Montana Meth. Others include, Graham, a 16-year-old who was an athlete and a straight-A student before turning into a pock-faced, twitchy-eyed druggy, and a man called “Weasel,” a Chippewa Cree Native, who lives in squalor with his meth addicted father.

Another is 21-year-old Rhianna who admits to participating in gruesome sexual acts in order to get a fix. And perhaps the most unsettling testimony comes for a young pregnant woman who is faced with risking the life of her unborn child if she were to relapse back into addiction.

These are the subjects Yates has chosen to focus on. The documentary, he explained, gave these young people a platform to warn others away from this destructive drug.

“If your at the bottom of barrel and you can garner one last shred of dignity, one of the things you can do is at least tell your story on how you got there,” he said during an interview in the filmmaker’s lounge at the Wilma Theater.

“It’s an interesting thing about drug addicts,” he added, “They really only know how to talk about two things — themselves and their drugs. We were very interested in what they know, how it happens, what they’re doing, what’s going to happen.”

In the fall of 2005, Yates and a small film crew spent four months in Montana, documenting the lives of users and their drug of choice. Their arrival wasn’t announced, instead they quietly went about their business and eventually found themselves steeped in drug culture.

Yates, an Emmy-winning filmmaker, has had experience capturing the criminal mindset on film before. Since 1996 he has directed and produced seven documentary films for HBO’s America Undercover series.

“It’s just basically how you present yourself and how far they’re willing to take you in,” he explained of his technique. “They invited me into their click.”

The one common thread found between all of his subjects is that they hate themselves for doing what they do.

“If I could remember the first person who gave it to me, I’d probably want to shoot him,” said Weasel, who earned his name for being a conniving, thieving swindler who would do nearly anything for a high.

His girlfriend, Gwen, says the drug is “pure evil and I hate myself for doing it right now.”

Gwen’s children were taken away from her because her addiction took precedent over parenting. She admits that she was more interested in the drug than her children.

The film points to the prevalence of the drug on reservations where it appears to be a pandemic among Native peoples. One Chippewa Cree elder fears that “we’re going to have a tribe full of zombies.”

Capturing the chaos and disarray that comes with meth use is at the forefront of the film in order to de-glamorize the drug, explained Yates. Montana Meth accomplishes that in spades. One of the most shocking images is seen when a female inmate has a corroding tooth ripped out with pliers after a dentist determines the tooth cannot be saved.

In addition to severe tooth decay, the movie also brings to light rapid weight loss, speech impediments and uncontrollable twitching as a result of meth use.

“The idea that meth use is a way to be cool, we’ve totally shattered that,” he said.

And that is precisely what Tom Siebel, founder of the Montana Meth Project, was aiming for when he commissioned Yates for the job. After watching his previous work on HBO, Siebel invited Yates to a weekend think-tank where they discussed the idea of a no-holds barred documentary. The seed was planted and Yates and crew went to work capturing heartbreaking testimonials and some graphic images.

Yates presents all this in a very “unproduced” manner — meaning he avoided the gloss of high definition and instead chose to film with analog equipment to give the feature a more “intimate” feeling.

“I knew, as a filmmaker, if we did anything to alter the perception of this reality,” Montana Meth would not be as effective, he explained. “This film is so ugly and disturbing, nothing but good can come out of it.”

HBO and the Montana Meth Project were so impressed with the finished product that they coordinated with Bresnan Communications to make the documentary available on basic cable, rather than limit it to HBO subscribers.

Montana Meth will premier Sunday, March 18 at 11 p.m. on HBO. Check local listings for availability on basic cable.