There is no justice.

Rating: 10/10 (27 August 2001)

There are two establishments that have me thoroughly confused. They are the MPAA ratings board and The Academy Awards. First, a gruesome, disgusting gore-fest titled "Hannibal" gets an R-rating, which, in essence, allows children of any age to see it (with a parent, granted). Yet "Requiem for a Dream", which shows very graphically the potential horrors of drug use, and which should be seen by teenagers, was threatened with an NC-17 rating, barring anyone under 17 from seeing it at all. The film was eventually released as unrated. Secondly, I cannot begin to understand how "Requiem for a Dream" wasn't even nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in a year when that award was actually won by a such a mundane piece of rubbish as "Gladiator". And probably an even bigger travesty is that Ellen Burstyn's performance in this film, a performance of a lifetime, lost out to the ho-hum, no-effort work of Julia Roberts in "Erin Brockovich". "Requiem for a Dream" is disturbing, shocking, and at times, difficult to watch. But it is one of the most important films ever made.