Film Analysis: American Addict 2-Big Lie

I started taking drugs at the age of 14. The first drug I had was LSD, and it was given to me by my father. He had an abundance of them. He worked for this guy named George. When I was 20 my doctor put me on Zoloft for anxiety. He did not tell me how addictive it would be. I am now on many drugs such as oxycontin, cocaine, vicodin, methamphetamine, and many other opiates and narcotics. I have tried to get sober and have gone to support groups, but I did not actually want to stop. As soon as I left I went back to drugs. This is just one out of millions of stories of people who have become addicted to psychotropic drugs in the United States. In the documentary American Addict 2 - The Big Lie, released in 2016, Sasha Knezev depicts how the pharmaceutical

industry does more harm than good. While using few textual elements, he uses many personal and expert testimonies to create a condemnatory tone. Knezev utilizes many logical and emotional appeals, as well as a condemnatory tone to inform Americans of the danger that comes from prescription drugs.
The story of American Addict 2 was created to combat the oppression caused by the pharmaceutical industry.

The film consists of an argument intermixed with various examples of how the drugs are distributed. The argument starts with the fact that children are being overdiagnosed and put on too much medication, then, the experts analyze the different school shootings and how all the school shooters were on medication, and lastly, the film shows how the pharmaceutical companies control the government and the FDA, so there is no way for the government to negotiate with those companies. Throughout the documentary, there is a secondary narrative of a man who is trying to get away from his addiction. Mike details how he became an addict, and his doctor explains how they treat patients like Mike to help them get past their physical dependence on the drugs. Knezev creates a strong argument against the pharmaceutical companies and the drugs they produce. He is a social activist who has written many books combatting social issues as well as creating other films such as American Addict and Fragments of Daniela. His inspiration for creating American Addict and American Addict 2 is the fact that America is “5% of the world population and is ingesting 80% of the world’s pharmaceutical narcotics” (vimeo.com). First, he uncovered the tiered pharmaceutical system; then, he created an argument against the corrupt system he found by interviewing many politicians and investigators who have

already been trying to uncover the lie that is the pharmaceutical industry. Knezev is trying to protect America from a deadly addition.
Knezev appeals to emotion throughout the film to create his argument against the use of psychotropic drugs. First, Knezev explains how young kids get loaded up with medication from a young age when they do not need to be. He uses visuals such as a child writing ADHD on a chalkboard while someone is explaining how “we diagnose pretty much every other boy with ADHD” due to the fact that our curriculum is not stimulating. He also incorporates a video of a boy and girl holding hands, and after explaining how children are loaded up on medication and the drugs “crush the spontaneity of the child,” he shows the children again, but this time he is standing away from his girl. Later, Knezev is providing evidence that the psychotropic drugs make people violent as is the case with the school shooters, he shows the same boy, but now he has a gun and has become violent.