Skezag

The devastating effects of drug abuse are graphically depicted in this portrait of Wayne Shirley, a fast-talking Black vet whom the filmmakers met on a streetcorner on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The filmmakers bring their cameras to Shirley's apartment where the drug dealer and self-styled entertainer unwinds, recounting his war experiences, offering his political views and berating his middle-class documentarians. Wayne's center stage position is supplanted by the arrival of Sonny and Angel who inject themselves with heroin almost immediately. Claiming to be a Puerto Rican revolutionary, Angel accuses Shirley of being a hustler and an opportunist. Four months later, directors Freedman and Messina again encounter Shirley, now a down and out junkie who desperately attempts to locate a vein for his next hit.