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Louise Fenny
First Year Seminar – Visualizing Medicine
22nd September 2023

A Response on Mia Donovan’s Dope is Death

Following the Vietnam War of the 1960s, many marginalized groups in the United States

struggled to build their communities due to the persistence of racial tension. Mia Donovan’s film,

Dope is Death, centers on the experience of the African American community of the South

Bronx in the 1970s, highlighting their unmet need for quality medical attention in the wake of

the heroin epidemic. Movements such as the Black Panthers and the Young Lords deemed

detoxification programs necessary to solve the far-reaching issues of the community. The

systemic oppression of the healthcare system, however, prevented this. In response to a protest,

the State’s solution to the heroin epidemic was methadone, a maintenance drug that reduced the

withdrawal effects without curing addiction- the main issue. Thus, an alternative solution was

imperative. Following the discovery that acupuncture was effective for detoxification, 1 Dr.

Mutulu Shakur and allies were inspired by Chinese Medicine techniques such as the usage of

acu-pressure points and eventually trained as full-fledged acupuncturists. Community-based

acupuncture grew, tremendously impacting the people of the South Bronx. The film makes its

case using the elements of mis-en-scene, editing, and sound to evoke emotional appeal, while

highlighting the connections between contemporary social and political situations and

acupuncture.

The film uses mis-en-scene to convey strong thematic emotions through arrangement,

composition, and print. The beginning of the documentary features phrases from a poem about

1
Mia Donavan, Dope is Death (Montreal: EyeSteel Film, 2020). Mins 32:58.
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the trauma that leads a young African American boy to addiction.2 The lettering is bold and

crude, intentionally lacking the embellishment that would make for a more composed

appearance. Each letter is different, lacking the predictability of ordinary printed font and giving

the impression that it was scribbled defiantly on a white board. The letters are not made up of

singular strokes but have multiple lines, as though written multiple times to emphasize the

magnitude of the writer’s emotion. Ultimately, the letters depict the rawness of the trauma,

invoking the empathy of the viewer.

Furthermore, the poem ‘It’s Jones Coming Down’ expresses the pain of the

detoxification process.3 The lettering is presented as though someone is writing in blood with a

finger. The implied gore invokes the feelings of woe, fore-boding and violence that describe the

state of a detoxing drug addict. In addition, when discussing community-based acupuncture in

the newspapers as Maoist propaganda, specific phrases that outline this idea appear on screen

circled in blood-red textured lines. This could have symbolized the negative views of the

government and dominant American class toward acupuncture and, in turn, foreshadowed the

cascade of death and criminal sentences that followed.4

Sound, both diegetic and non-diegetic, has a strong influence on the emotions each scene

elicits. Within the first few minutes, there are long scenes devoid of non-diegetic sound.

Ordinarily, mundane scenes such as a fan whirring in Juan Cortez’s living room or Walter

Bosque frying an egg in his kitchen would, at the very least, have some diegetic sound to keep

the viewer entertained. The absence of background music coupled with the sheer length of the

scenes cause the viewer to absorb the pure unadulterated form of the scenes. Thus, the film

2
Donavan, Dope is Death, 12:30m.
3
Donovan, Dope is Death, 26:35m.
4
Donovan, Dope is Death, 46:42m.
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introduces these pivotal characters first and foremost as humans, like the viewer, simply making

their breakfast and doing their morning breathing exercises. This invokes the sense of familiarity

and connection necessary for the viewer to fully appreciate the remarkable story these characters

tell throughout the documentary.

The first use of background music is at the introduction of the Black Panthers and Young

Lords. The beat of African drums is reminiscent of the movements these groups advanced.

Throughout the documentary, the African drumbeats evoke different feelings using varying

intensities and tempos. For instance, when the Young Lords take over the Lincoln Hospital5 the

drums are urgent and upbeat, symbolizing the rising tension that pervades the atmosphere in the

footage shown. Conversely, the film uses silence remarkably well as a form of emphasis and

dramatic appeal. For instance, in Maliki Shakur’s narration of the Black Panthers’ demand for

drug dealers to cease peddling heroin,6 he pauses for a total of five seconds before adding that

they did not cease. The silence forces the eye to take in his expression and wandering gaze as he

ruminates on the event. The dramatic pause emphasizes the fact that all that ensues, at least from

the Black Panthers’ point of view, does so because the source of the heroin, the drug dealers

themselves, would not stop.

Also noteworthy is the use of different editing techniques to simulate different

environments. For instance, the scene in which Juan Cortez makes his way to work7 has an

intentional jumpiness. Rather than keeping the general rhythm smooth, the camera moves from

side to side intentionally to simulate the experience of a pedestrian walking behind him on the

zebra crossing. This gives the viewer an immersive look into the life of the holistic health

5
Donovan, Dope is Death, 19:05m.
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Donovan, Dope is Death, 13:52m.
7
Donovan, Dope is Death, 2:23m.
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specialist, subtly breaking the third wall. With such immersion, the viewer is more likely to feel a

connection, however small, to the character Juan Cortez, amplifying the effect of the story he

tells.

Another editing technique that helps the film make its case is rhythm. The rhythm of the

poem about the trauma that influences the addiction of a little boy8 is fast paced at the beginning.

The fast pace implies the undertone of agitation, unrest and general unease that permeate these

traumatic events. As the poem transitions into how the boy feels under the influence, the rhythm

becomes sluggish and drags along to give the topsy-turvy state akin to that of a drugged stupor.

The juxtaposition between angst and almost immediate tranquility could place the viewer in the

shoes of a traumatized young African American boy dealing with issues the only way he knows

how. Furthermore, shot-to-shot relations between the narration and montage serve to maintain

suspense. In many instances, a scene continues while a different narrator speaks. The subtle

dissonance creates tension which can only be resolved by paying rapt attention to the narrator

once they appear on screen. There are also many cuts from people talking, to posters and articles

from the era that give substance to the narration and portray documentary authority.

As shown, the film uses many techniques to make its case through emotional appeal.

The fact that Donovan accomplishes this using mainly live footage not only illuminates the

gravity of the issues but emphasizes the documentary’s authority. Utilizing live footage is innate

proof that the documentary is sourced verifiably. The personalities and characters are central to

the story, with great care being taken to interview pivotal characters. A prime example of this is

when Mutulu Shakur is interviewed while actively in jail9.

Furthermore, the documentary presents different sides of the same story in an attempt to
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Donovan, Dope is Death, 12:30m.
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Donovan, Dope is Death, 43:21m.
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tell the whole truth. For example, when narrating the takeover of the Lincoln Hospital by the

Young Lords,10 both Felipe Luciano, a leader of the Young Lords, and Sid Davidoff, an official

under Mayor Lindsay whose job was to keep Harlem under the government’s control, recount the

same event. On the one hand, Luciano spearheads the poor’s fight for basic healthcare. On the

other, the government official is concerned about keeping the poor under control, insinuating that

their actions threaten the continued use of the hospital. The immediate juxtaposition between the

two opposing views shows the willingness of the filmmaker to tell the viewer the whole truth.

Though the choice lies in the viewer’s hands, the film makes its case so well that the viewer

seems to have no choice in the wake of the hard evidence that runs throughout the documentary.

The documentary unearths the untold story of acupuncture in the African American

community and its vital role in the socio-political climate of the 1960s. The use of acupuncture

proved a better method of detoxification, posing a threat to the government’s control over the

community. The government’s response to the betterment of the community showed that the

welfare of the African American community was not the main priority. Their power dynamic

was. Thus, the systemic issues of the American healthcare system were shown, with healthcare

becoming a political tool. In today’s world, nothing much has changed. The issue of addiction

persists in these marginalized communities. In wake of the indirect violence that inequitable

access to healthcare causes, history indicates that acupuncture may be a viable alternative.

Bibliography
Donavan, Mia. Dope is Death. Documentary. 82 minutes. Montreal, Canada: EyeSteel Film,
2020.

10
Donovan, Dope is Death, 19:00m.