1982, a film inspired by true events at the onset of the crack epidemic in Philadelphia, tells the story of a father and his efforts to protect his gifted daughter from the insidious epidemic which has literally come home via her drug-addicted mother. As his wife becomes more distant and unreliable, he struggles to raise his daughter on his own, while still striving to help his wife become clean. In the process, he learns some hard truths about his marriage and his life, which will ultimately test him as a parent, a husband, and a man.
Acting
Hill Harper's restrained desperation anchors every scene.
Direction
Tommy Oliver's autobiographical eye avoids poverty porn.
Director
Tommy Oliver
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Tommy Oliver based this on his own Philadelphia childhood; his father actually did barricade their home during the 1982 crack epidemic.
This is one of the few films to portray the crack epidemic's devastation on working-class Black families without centering police or dealers as protagonists.
US
