All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is a David and Goliath story about a woman who took on big pharma to hold them accountable for enabling the opioid crisis. Artist Goldin not only took on this work herself but inspired others to join in. And she did so through the world of art which she knows so well. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is the story of her quest.
A traditional style documentary which makes use of archive footage and interviews to bring Goldin's story to us, works us through the specific responsibility of the family and corporation that has made millions selling a drug that has caused so much pain and death. It tackles the tension between the ways the drug has helped people who needed it and the way the industry encourages abuse for profit reasons.
And All the Beauty and the Bloodshed makes the story personal, both in Goldin's own addiction and passion to fight the system that enabled her, but also in the effect of the whole crisis on the real people who suffered it. Besides the interviews the film uses Goldin's signature photo essay approach which is just so personal and so beautiful. The title of the picture is just so true. We get the beauty (in the history of her and her community) and the bloodshed (the suffering of those victims of opioid addiction, and those who tried to speak truth to power).
And that's the power of the film, recognizing the beauty of lives often minimized by the powerful who are profiting off of suffering. That is the beauty and the bloodshed.
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Starring: Nan Goldin
Director: Laura Poitras
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