For the past 20 years, director/producer Bess O’Brien has been making films that deal with issues such as heroin addiction, domestic violence, and the foster care system. Her latest film, The Hungry Heart, focuses on the very real problem of prescription drug addiction, especially among young people. It spotlights Fred Holmes, a pediatrician in a rural Vermont town who, at the time of the making of the film, was treating youthful addicts. The feature-length documentary presents a first-hand personal look at a problem that is reaching the point of a health care epidemic in this country and has impacted communities all across the nation, including Martha’s Vineyard.
Since The Hungry Heart was released in 2013, Ms. O’Brien has toured with the film, screening it in 150 towns and cities around the country. She has reached out to the audience in Q & A and discussion periods after the screenings, often with one or more of the film subjects.
On Friday, October 10, the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center will host a screening of The Hungry Heart. Ms. O’Brien will be on hand to answer questions and hopefully generate a conversation about a problem that is as much of a threat on the Vineyard as it is in communities all over the world.
The MV Times recently spoke by phone with Ms. O’Brien about some of the issues raised by the film, and how it has impacted audiences and communities from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Nantucket, Mass.
HH TRAILER-VIMEO from Bess O’brien on Vimeo.
Do you think that people are starting to address this rampant problem more seriously?
It’s interesting because after I made my film a couple of years ago, I toured extensively through the state last fall. Then, in January, the governor of Vermont focused his entire State of the State Address on prescription drugs. He referenced my film a number of times. No other governor of the state had ever spent the State of the State talking about one issue. The next day we were inundated with national and international press. For about three months there was press coming up here weekly. The New York Times, al jazeera, The Boston Globe, journalists from Canada, Norway. What I have been saying is that the important thing about showing this movie and getting the word out is that we essentially said “we have a problem.”
The film is set in a rural town in Vermont. Is there a particular reason that you chose to focus on this community?
This film came to me through Fred Holmes. He wanted to tell the story of the young people he was working with. But I don’t think there’s anything special about Vermont. We’ve taken the film all over. It doesn’t matter where we go. We could go to a city, a town, a wealthy community, a poor community. It’s the same story. People tend to think that things like drug addiction doesn’t happen in rural areas or in beautiful places like Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Vermont. What we see in the media is usually focused on cities, but drug addiction is everywhere. It’s a huge problem. It’s a disease that’s a national health problem.
You focus primarily on young adults in this film. Do you find that teens are especially at risk with prescription drug addiction?
Fred often says that among the kids that he is seeing, the average age that they started using is 12 or 13. On the special feature section on the DVD, there are interviews with professionals. One woman who works as an addiction specialist says that young people are now starting with prescription drugs. The gateway drug for many people is not pot anymore. I think that kids find it in their medicine cabinet and think, “this can’t be that bad. It’s prescribed by a doctor.”
In the film we see Dr. Holmes prescribing Suboxone (a drug used to treat opioid addiction) as part of his treatment program. What would you say to people who may object to the use of Suboxone?
The reason that Suboxone is in the movie is that’s part of what Fred does, but I hope that it’s not the main focus. The most important part of the film for me — and why I did the movie — is the incredible relationship that Fred has with his patients. Many of them were coming just to be with Fred, for affirmation and to be with someone who has respect for them. There’s so much shame around addiction. What Fred has is an incredible ability to make people believe in themselves.
Suboxone is one small tool in the toolbox in the process of recovery. Getting clean is a huge life-changing thing. People need outpatient treatment. Some people go to AA or NA. You need strong family and community support. Suboxone is one small tool. If you use it in the right way with a doctor, and you’re doing the right things in your life, then you will probably do well.
I do not feel that any of us should judge anyone who is in recovery and working hard to do it. The metaphor I use is some people use the patch to help relieve the craving for nicotine. They use it so that they can calm down and start weaning themselves off cigarettes. If you take Suboxone, it stops your cravings and blocks the ability of any other opiates to get you high. It helps you in early recovery get over that hump. There are people in the film who are now off Suboxone and doing well in their lives. It can also be abused like any other drug. The film is certainly not a pro-Suboxone movie.
To me, a lot of the bugaboo around Suboxone is the judgement we have around addicts. The fact is it’s an incredibly complicated illness. Everybody gets clean in a different way. Some people may say this is replacing one drug with another. That is naïve and not true at all.
What kind of response do you get when you show the film?
The reaction is 99 percent positive. It puts a human face on addiction. One of the most moving things about the screenings is that there are always parents who come who are just bleary eyed and stunned because their kid is in the midst of this horrible addiction. They’ve come to this movie to hear what other people say.
Even in Vermont we still don’t have enough resources, then you go into Maine and New Hampshire and the resources are very scarce. That’s really the saddest thing, to meet people whose kids are in the depths of addiction. They can’t find a bed [in a detox]. They can’t find a doctor or a treatment center. Many doctors don’t want to deal with this. Some of people who come to the film want to see some hope. The discussions with the audiences afterwards are always very moving and informative. It’s a chance for people to talk about what they need in their community.
What do you hope to accomplish with the screenings?
I hope the film is a stepping off point for people to rally around the issue, to work on community action. A lot of people who come to the screening not knowing much, when they leave they want to get involved in the community. In a number of communities where we showed the film, they had a sign-up list of people who want to work on the issues. There’s been a lot of grassroots work on the problem.
What is the most surprising thing you learned while making this film?
I think just how widespread prescription drug and opiate addiction is. We need more resources. That’s what we hear. If we looked at the statistics of how many people are addicted in our country, and how many people need help, we’d realize that what we have is a health epidemic here. We don’t have enough facilities. We don’t have enough support. That is unconscionable. I hope it instills in people that we need to get help for these people.
We need to start looking at this as a health issue, and not a criminal problem. One of the most important things that the governor addressed in his talk is that we need more treatment resources. That is something that I’ve always believed in, but after making this movie it became very clear to me.
The Hungry Heart will screen at the M.V. Film Center, Friday, October 10, at 7:30 pm. Discussion with Bess O’Brien to follow. For more information, visit thehungryheartmovie.org.