Requiem for a Dream (2000)

"Requiem for a Dream," Darren Aronofsky's FUBAR bloodbath of addiction and unrealized death, is the most soul-scaring descent into hell of any film I've ever seen. Not only is it the Best Film of 2000 in my book, but star Ellen Burstyn can smoke Julia Roberts (who wrongly won the Oscar that year) in a second and not break a sweat.

The film focuses on four Brooklyn residents -- Harry (Jared Leto), Marion (Jennifer Connelly), Tyrone (Marlon Wayans) and Harry's mother, Sara (Burstyn) -- who all are addicted to drugs in some way. For the three youths, there is heroin and pot. For mother, there are upper and downer diet pills.

But this horror film, scarier than anything in "The Exorcist" or any slasher film, doesn't stop there. It shows the full range of life's addictions to love, food, TV, fame, great sex, beauty, acceptance, youth, loss of a loved one and even wanting to be a better person. Addiction, the film says, is all around and will destroy every one of us. We need only pick our poison. We all suffer.

Burstyn's performance is absolutely devastating, and as Sara's body and mind literally melt away, her acting becomes unmatched in 2000 or nearly any other year. The rest of the cast, including a sweetly beautiful then shockingly depraved Connelly, also are fantastic.

Working from a famed novel, Aronofsky ("Pi") never hits the brakes nor does he wince at the absolute devastation that these lives endure. This is his masterpiece, a plunge into hell which leaves the viewer shaken and hollowed out. Clint Mansell's score is phenomenal, and serves as the background horror-house soundtrack on this tour ride of death. Except that death would be an easy way out for our four people.

And, here, the film suggests the luckiest drug addicts end up dead. The unlucky live on, and wait for a death that won't come soon enough. Their friends, loves ones, can only watch. This film -- despite the NC-17 material -- literally ought to be shown in high schools across the country. A+