grantss Gary, Fran and their teenage son DeAndre live in the slums of West Baltimore. They used to have a normal suburban family life, until Gary and Fran started taking drugs. Now Gary and Fran are estranged and their existence is day-to-day, hand-to-mouth, doing anything to satisfy their addiction. DeAndre has a chance, through getting his head down and staying in school, of escaping the abject poverty his parents live in, but he has his own problems. He is lured into become a drug dealer, making his living on the corner.Created, written and produced by David Simon, who, at that time, had given us Homicide: Life On The Street and would later give us The Wire. The series is based on his non-fiction book "The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood". (The book was co-written with Ed Burns, who is also a writer on the show, and was a writer on The Wire). Incredibly raw and gritty, so much so that it is often painful to watch. The conditions people have to live in, the desperation and seemingly lack of escape options make for very emotional and harrowing viewing. The fact that Gary and his family were living a fairly idyllic lifestyle before being brought down by drug addiction makes viewing even more painful. As mentioned, it is quite painful to watch at times. Add to this the fact that it can be quite slow, so in some ways it is an ordeal, and though a very high-quality ordeal, you do sometimes wonder why you are willing to put yourself through it.It all comes together in the end though and the conclusion is very powerful.Having watched The Wire before this, even though The Corner was released in 2000 and The Wire in 2002-2008, you can see how The Corner is an evolutionary step in David Simon's creation of The Wire. In The Corner Simon concentrates on a few characters and how the drug trade in West Baltimore affects their lives. In The Wire, Simon takes roughly the same location and looks at the bigger picture, and the characters involved - police, drug kingpins, as well as the street-level drug dealers covered in The Corner.You can even trace certain plot devices and developments in The Wire back to The Corner. For example, Namond in The Wire is DeAndre in The Corner to a large extent (though their fortunes diverge, from a point).Plus, the cast of The Corner is jam-packed full of actors who appeared in The Wire. Makes for interesting, and sometimes jarring, viewing. Seeing Freamon, Daniels and Norman Wilson as dope fiends was a bit of a shock!

askedforhelp When oh when will this miniseries become available on video or DVD? At least let HBO rebroadcast it so I can make a copy. It is as close to excellent a view of its topic as I have ever seen and a great tool for use in a substance abuse recovery program. (I am a drug counselor.)

Lor410 "The Corner" was the closest, truest, most honest miniseries I've ever seen that delt with the streets, drugs, and dysfunctional families. Being a recovering drug addict, I never ever seen a film that actually put me back onto the streets, the drugs, and the dysfunction of life. The actors were superb. Their dialogue, gestures, even the look in their eyes, couldn't be more real. I can't compare it to any movies that I've ever seen. I saw what I used to be in this film and they reminded me that I don't want to ever go back. So real, too real, it is real. Thanks Mr. Dutton.

Ankhoryt You want to force politicians and lawmakers to watch this film. You want high school kids considering drugs to watch this film. And you want to watch this film yourself, over and over, for the sheer drama of the story and for the tremendous performances by each and every person in it.Equally poignant were the appearances by the people who weren't performers: at the end of the series, there's a brief meeting with the real individuals who were portrayed in the six episodes, along with a "five years later" update on what actually happened to other characters whose real-life counterparts didn't live long enough (or live free long enough) to participate in the on-camera reunion.Dutton's direction is brilliant, presenting the cold facts of a deadly situation with great compassion as well as narrative force. Although not explicitly political and never preachy, the film makes the unpopular point that medical treatment backed up with intensive rehab works and pouring money into fruitless attempts at law enforcement doesn't.This series is a great American tragedy and crime story combined, a fit companion to "The Godfather" and "Grapes of Wrath," combining the gritty crime story of the first with the deadly grind of verité poverty from the latter to produce an engrossing synecdoche of our culture at the end of the century.This isn't an "inner city" movie -- this is about all of us. What Dutton shows us in the Baltimore ghetto happens in rural towns in the heartland, too. One small mistake leads to another until, all too soon and too often inevitably, the chances of a happy ending become very, very slim. A universal plot, as timeless and as touching as Shakespeare's finest.