Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysToronto Int'l Film FestivalIMDb TIFF Portrait StudioHispanic Heritage MonthSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

The House I Live In

  • 2012
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 38m
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
5.5K
YOUR RATING
The House I Live In (2012)
An investigative look at America's war on drugs and its impact on the criminal justice system, with a focus on the experiences of Nannie Jeter, a former employee of filmmaker Eugene Jarecki's family.
Play trailer2:19
3 Videos
11 Photos
Drug CrimeCrimeDocumentary

From the dealer to the narcotics officer, the inmate to the federal judge, a penetrating look inside America's criminal justice system, revealing the profound human rights implications of U.... Read allFrom the dealer to the narcotics officer, the inmate to the federal judge, a penetrating look inside America's criminal justice system, revealing the profound human rights implications of U.S. drug policy.From the dealer to the narcotics officer, the inmate to the federal judge, a penetrating look inside America's criminal justice system, revealing the profound human rights implications of U.S. drug policy.

  • Director
    • Eugene Jarecki
  • Writers
    • Eugene Jarecki
    • Christopher St. John
  • Stars
    • Eugene Jarecki
    • David Simon
    • Shanequa Benitez
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.9/10
    5.5K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Eugene Jarecki
    • Writers
      • Eugene Jarecki
      • Christopher St. John
    • Stars
      • Eugene Jarecki
      • David Simon
      • Shanequa Benitez
    • 30User reviews
    • 48Critic reviews
    • 77Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 4 wins & 3 nominations total

    Videos3

    Theatrical Version
    Trailer 2:19
    Theatrical Version
    The House I Live In
    Trailer 1:25
    The House I Live In
    The House I Live In
    Trailer 1:25
    The House I Live In
    The House I Live In
    Promo 2:18
    The House I Live In

    Photos10

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 4
    View Poster

    Top cast61

    Edit
    Eugene Jarecki
    Eugene Jarecki
    • Self - Narrator…
    David Simon
    David Simon
    • Self - Creator, The Wire
    Shanequa Benitez
    • Self
    William Julius Wilson
    • Self - Harvard University
    • (as Prof. William Julius Wilson)
    Glendon Goldsboro
    • Self - Providence Police
    • (as Lt. Glendon Goldsboro)
    Fabio Zuena
    • Self - Providence Narcotics
    David Kennedy
    • Self - John Jay College of Criminal Justice
    Michael Correia
    • Self - Commanding Officer, Narcotics
    • (as Lt. Michael Correia)
    Charles Bowden
    Charles Bowden
    • Self - Investigative Reporter
    Gabor Maté
    Gabor Maté
    • Self - Physician, Addiction Expert
    • (as Dr. Gabor Maté)
    Mark W. Bennett
    • Self - U.S. Federal Judge
    • (as Hon. Mark Bennett)
    Maurice Haltiwanger
    • Self - ID# 03678-029
    Jim K. McGough
    • Self - Maurice's Lawyer
    • (as Jim McGough)
    Eric Franklin
    • Self - Lexington Corrections Center
    • (as Warden Eric Franklin)
    Mike Carpenter
    • Self - Chief of Security, Lexington Corrections
    Michelle Alexander
    Michelle Alexander
    • Self - Author, The New Jim Crow
    Charles Ogletree
    Charles Ogletree
    • Self - Harvard University
    • (as Prof. Charles J. Ogletree)
    Anthony Johnson
    • Self - ID# 06263-082
    • Director
      • Eugene Jarecki
    • Writers
      • Eugene Jarecki
      • Christopher St. John
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews30

    7.95.4K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    8imdb-480-136149

    Well-crafted advocacy piece with a few distracting flaws.

    The House I Live In is a very informative work of advocacy that's only thinly masquerading as a documentary. It's a more reformed, nuanced version of a Michael Moore piece that has a clear point of advocacy aimed squarely at whatever practical center still exists. It doesn't hit you over the head with a message or misleading facts but squarely lets you arrive at the conclusion that the drug war has failed.

    It's not an anti-corporate rant with a clear villain to rally against. I left thinking that there was enough material and story there to easily fill a mini-series or a Ken Burns style documentary without getting preachy or creating fatigue.

    It has enlightening and entertaining moments, but there are many flaws in the storytelling. Many characters are introduced, many of which with too much or not enough background, and seem to float around their promised purpose without really landing at a point or purpose. (Given the ending theme of the work, perhaps this is intentional.)

    David Simon's incredibly powerful monologues bring a saving grace to moments in the film that tend to struggle, especially moments where the director awkwardly inserts himself into the film.

    Unlike a lot of similar works, you could probably take your Republican parents to see it without the evening being automatically ruined.

    Unlike almost every other advocacy piece I've seen, it achieves its goal of starting a conversation, rather than ending one.
    10kmartin108

    The House I Live In

    This is a compelling documentary. Please see it. The drug war that results in mass incarceration is probably the most critical emerging issue of our time. If you care about humanity, and if you care about the economics of our country, then go see this film.

    The filmmakers seamlessly describe the complexities that underly the drug war and mass incarceration. Then they show the devastating unintended consequences of this misguided policy approach. Finally, they raise important questions that will help to craft a new way forward.

    I am going to do my part to get as many people that I can to see this film. I'm posting it on Facebook, I'm writing reviews, and I'm telling people about it in my capacity as a trainer in child welfare.

    The filmmakers deserve a huge thank you for calling out the ugly truth of the drug war in a way that we can understand it, and do something about it.
    9valis1949

    Mama Tried

    THE HOUSE I LIVE IN (dir. Eugene Jarecki)

    America has more of its citizens behind bars than in any other nation on the planet, and we presently have more Blacks incarcerated than were slaves in the Confederate States of America during the 1850's. And, America's misguided approach to the issue of illegal drugs is the single most important reason why so many of us are in prison.

    These are only a couple of startling revelations from Eugene Jarecki's riveting documentary about America's terribly misguided War On Drugs. Clearly we have chosen to solve a health issue by creating a ridiculous legal and political policy based on an oxymoron called, 'the criminal justice system'. Racial scapegoating and a system based on 'prisons for profit' have allowed us to spend billions, yet more people use illegal drugs today than when the drug war first began. And, the quality of these drugs is infinitely superior.

    No one, not the authorities or the criminals, seem to be satisfied with the status quo, and readily admit that the whole affair is an abject failure. But, the film shows how this suicidal social policy remains locked in place with no end in sight. Politicians campaign on making this nation drug free, and addiction rates soar and we can't seem to build jails quickly enough to fill them.

    If there was ever a solution that was immeasurably worse than the problem, it is The War On Drugs. ABSOLUTE MUST SEE
    8peacecreep

    Our deadening country.

    Eugene Jarecki's frightening and important film is a thorough investigation of the prison industrial complex and the "war on drugs" i.e. the war on poor people. It's a fair and balanced look at how it subsidizes thousands of jobs and locks up millions of innocent people. Unfortunately he misses a key argument against this war: adults should have the right to sovereignty over their consciousness. Drugs are slightly demonized throughout- the fact that the drugs themselves are inherently good- its people with no self control that give them a bad name- is never explored. Regardless, this is a fascinating look into a sick society in a dead and deadening country. Recommended.
    10zippyflynn2

    "Free" Enterprise at It's Finest

    What's really fueling this law and order hysteria and the draconian prison sentences for relatively minor, innocuous and even non-existent "crimes" is the extraordinarily profitable Prison for Profit system. What's interesting and extremely frightening is most Americans are oblivious to it. Combine this with a large number of the public being largely uneducated and on a continual sadistic hunt for scapegoats, those who profiteer on the modern day slave trade have a willing public as unwitting accomplices.

    It's interesting the director, Eugene Jarecki, also did "Why We Fight", one of the best documentaries to expose the crimes being committed by the blood money Military Industrial Complex. The public is also largely oblivious to that evil profiteering monster and also happily supports it to the point it thinks murdering and dying for it is a good thing. Jarecki makes some of the most important and enlightening documentaries of today. It's an alarming shame and tragedy that the predominately ignorant and not very mentally healthy general public aren't watching them, let alone able to comprehend how it hurts everyone except the bank accounts of sociopathic "business" men and women.

    Perhaps the common denominator is the same fuel that's driving half of the present day voters in the Presidential election: hatred and the eternal search for scapegoats. It would make an excellent documentary to tie these core driving forces together, a task I think Mr. Jarecki is capable of doing well. It probably won't make much of an impact beyond preaching to the choir but then again none of his other fine offerings have fared much better and those are still greatly appreciated by thoughtful and humane audiences.

    More like this

    Journey of Hope
    7.5
    Journey of Hope
    The Central Park Five
    7.7
    The Central Park Five
    Big Men
    7.2
    Big Men
    Where to Invade Next
    7.5
    Where to Invade Next
    No Man's Land
    7.9
    No Man's Land
    Waiting for Superman
    7.4
    Waiting for Superman
    God Grew Tired of Us
    7.9
    God Grew Tired of Us
    The Spanish Prisoner
    7.1
    The Spanish Prisoner
    An Inconvenient Truth
    7.4
    An Inconvenient Truth
    Why We Fight
    8.0
    Why We Fight
    Jean de Florette
    8.1
    Jean de Florette
    The House I Live In
    6.4
    The House I Live In

    Related interests

    Wendell Pierce and Dominic West in The Wire (2002)
    Drug Crime
    James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Sharon Angela, Max Casella, Dan Grimaldi, Joe Perrino, Donna Pescow, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Tony Sirico, and Michael Drayer in The Sopranos (1999)
    Crime
    Dziga Vertov in Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
    Documentary

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Quotes

      Herself - Author, The New Jim Crow: You know, in any war, you've got to have an enemy, and when you think about impact, particularly on poor people of color, there are more African-Americans under correctional control today in prison or jail, on probation or parole, than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began. And that's something we haven't been willing to look in the mirror and ask ourselves, "what's really going on?"

    • Connections
      Edited into Independent Lens: The House I Live In (2013)
    • Soundtracks
      Grandma's Hands
      Written by Bill Withers

      Published by Songs of Universal, Inc. on behalf of Interior Music Corp.

      Performed by Bill Withers

      Courtesy of Columbia Records

      By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ18

    • How long is The House I Live In?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 5, 2012 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • Netherlands
      • United Kingdom
      • Germany
      • Japan
      • Australia
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • BBC (United Kingdom)
      • ITVS (United States)
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Guerra contra las drogas
    • Filming locations
      • New Haven, Connecticut, USA(Interview)
    • Production companies
      • Al Jazeera Documentary Channel
      • British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
      • Charlotte Street Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $210,752
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $16,453
      • Oct 7, 2012
    • Gross worldwide
      • $219,159
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 38m(98 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.