Matialth
Good concept, poorly executed.
Comwayon
A Disappointing Continuation
Mischa Redfern
I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.
Yazmin
Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.
Midnight_Gypsi
I'm not a pot smoker. In fact, I've never even tried it. People tend to always assume I'm a complete pothead; especially when first meeting me. My good friends and I now just all agree that I must have a pothead's personality or something, heh.Just maybe about a year ago, give or take, I was completely against the good stuff. I still believed what I had "learned" in D.A.R.E., telling me that you could overdose from your first puff (seriously, our police guy told us this, lol). I thought it was more likely to cause lung cancer, proved to kill braincells, would make me mentally disabled, become self-destructive, etc. I thought that weed was as bad as heroin, simply because I was constantly hearing about how bad it is and how it'll screw your life up. I mean, I honestly thought that people who wanted medicinal marijuana just wanted to get stoned - thankfully, I know better now.My opinion starting changing about about a year ago, when I read an article that suggested that weed could actually help treat a physical disability my mother suffers with. This made me curious, and I quickly began doing a ton of research. Eventually, I decided to watch "The Union" after seeing a few people comment about it being a great documentary to get information from.By the time I watched it, I was already turning towards pro-marijuana legalization, and this documentary helped me get over any doubt. They give a lot of information, and information that is worth knowing. Looking back to a year ago, before starting my research and before watching the documentary, I can't believe how ignorant I was. I can't believe the stereotypes and judgements I held while completely misinformed.Now, I know better. I'm not a pot smoker; I've never even touched it, but to me, that just shows that it doesn't take a complete pothead to realize that it should be made legal. Now, when I get the chance, I correct people's statements and misinformations about marijuana and I've provided several people with better information and I've recommended this very documentary to a few people.I think the main reason I held such hatred towards the plant before being properly informed was because when my older sister was a teen, she became very self-destructive and caused a lot of drama and pain within the family, and at that time she did get caught smoking weed, and I associated her behaviour with it.My mom, who also used to be completely dead-set against weed, is not as against it as before since I've given her information. Although she's not willing on trying it yet and still a little sceptical, she's much more open to the possibility of trying to get a doctor's recommendation for it than she would've been otherwise. She would qualify for it, and it's legal here if you've got a doctor's recommendation. I want to get her to watch this (and a couple other documentaries, but mostly this one) in hopes that she'll at least give it a go and hopefully be able of decreasing her medication intake (She needs to take a lot on a daily basis, some of which seem kinda sketchy.)So in conclusion, I recommend this to anyone and everyone; it's a real eye-opener and very informative.
Rawson Agnew
Recently, we have seen a slew of great documentaries bring important issues to our attention. They are good at giving you the facts, and helping you to question why nothing is done about this. The Union is no exception. It has to be one of the most eye-opening films that I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. What it boils down to is how much the government is stifling something that could do 100 times more good than evil. Pot is a controversial topic; there is simply no debating that. But, this film shows how we need to stop thinking that it is so morally wrong to smoke weed. It has a vast number of uses, all of which can help with make the Earth a better place. However, it has become ingrained in people's heads that pot is a bad thing. This film has great interviews from some of the people behind the legalization movement. It is factual, and it is real. I think everyone should watch this and get behind the movement.
Daniel Saavedra
First of all, be warned, i am a pot lover, stoner and marijuana legalization advocate. Also i'm a well educated fourth year law student, with deep knowledge in history, mathematics, politics, and law. That duality that some people cant understand, and believe impossible is exactly what this film shows, am from Chile so my English may not be perfect, please spare me. Everyone, pro-legalization anti-legalization and even those who don't care should watch this film, the sheer amount of backup information is astonishing, everything that is said in the movie is accompanied by a source, so the movie presents an undeniable truth.That would be OK for most documentaries but this one goes further, its is fast paced, has a great soundtrack (specially if you're watching it high, treats a great variety of subjects, history, medical dangers, medical benefits, legislation, etc.Be warned, it will change your point of view, if you are a pro-legalization it will strength it, if you are close-minded it will open it, so be ready to learn the truth, and open your mind in a heavily entertaining way.
Nickolas52
I was pleasantly surprised by this documentary. As a non-user of cannabis viewing what had to be just another pro-cannabis argument, I had low expectations. My expectations were wrong.This documentary has about as much to say about North American Society as a whole as it has to say about the legalization of marijuana. Taken in its greater context, the documentary is about how Society allows limits of personal freedom to evolve. The documentary uses the example of the 1920's Prohibition on alcohol to demonstrate how Society can change to allow something within its perceived bounds of decency, for which it previously tossed people in jail. I have seen in my own lifetime the legalization of homosexuality, which also finds its roots in Canada, initiated as it was by a visionary Prime Minister named Pierre Trudeau. What a less tolerant society once restricted through oppression to dark, secret places, it is now allowing freely, even if it is all still happening in dark, secret places. If Society had finally recognized that these prohibited things could not be eliminated, Society may have also recognized that they would at least not be promoted by legalizing them. Not everyone is happy with either societal change, but the majority are. We are now seeing the evolution of acceptance of cannabis in Society. But that's not the point. To me the documentary is not about cannabis. It is about disparities of freedom.The point is driven home by an exposé on the United States penal system, a system run to a great extent by private corporations who's primary interest, by definition, is to make money. What the documentary helps the objective viewer to realize is America's is not as free a Society as many, if not most, others in the world, and it helps the objective viewer realize, if chillingly, the reason why.