Directed by Blair Forester and edited by Brian Anton, Russell Greene and Aleks Gezentsvey, Take Your Pills Xanax premiered on Netflix on November 30, 2022 with a runtime of 90 minutes.
Adding to the repertoire of Netflix documentaries, this particular release investigates the effects of Xanax, a widely produced, and consumed anti-anxiety medication by the masses, with a specific target U.S. population. With an in-depth analysis of how its intake has become rather universalised and common, the film brings our attention to the history of its formulation and use, while asking us to turn away from it.
Netflix describes the documentary as follows:
A cure for some and a curse for there, widely prescribed anti-anxiety medications is examined by patients and experts in this revealing documentary.
-Take Your Pills: Xanax Review Does Not Contain Spoilers-
Supported by enough pictorial diagrams and visuals, Take Your Pills: Xanax is practically an elaborate attempt at visualising a probable presentation or seminar of mental health – specifically targeting anxiety issues. Taking every step of the process into account, the film breaks down how individuals are basically pushed on to the path of being reliant on this particular medication, which eventually ends up impairing their facilities, and yet, the professional help chooses to overlook its side-effects and continues prescribing it without imparting any discretion about its long-term consumption.
Starting from the beginning, from how one takes the first step towards the medicine to how it ends up becoming an indispensable part of one’s life, the trajectory of addressing the issue puts emphasis of its transformation into addiction. What started out as a mere act of ingesting a ‘harmless’ pill to put your worries aside, is ultimately the actual deal killer.
Several people come forward to confide in the viewers about their respective experiences with it while experts map out how depression and anxiety are detrimental states encompassing various ages, and aren’t simply restricted to being a ‘modern’ age problem arising out of privilege. Taking up the commonly highlighted issues of the stigma attached to discussions around mental health and the misconception of it being a gender specific problem are significant aspects raised throughout the hour.
Also read: Revenge of Others Episode 7 Recap and Review: Chan-mi Gets Won-seok’s Call!
Furthermore, the film also significantly underlines how our spoken word or choice of words adds to the same stigma. The Netflix documentary doesn’t just present us with problems and the historical background of these maladies, the experts also guide the viewers through a way out of it, which is ironically going through it.
The movie considers the present situation, the post pandemic scenario of the world as well. Raising questions on its own, it takes all of them up as if it were a thorough questionnaire for us to refer to. The one conflicting aspect is that it’s probably too didactic for it to have been released on an entertainment platform like Netflix. Nevertheless, that also acts a plus point for it because its availability on such a platform allows for the general masses to access it without even looking for it.
Take Your Pills Xanax: Worth the Watch?
Relaying crucial details related to the medication along with supporting those claims through public’s personal testimonies, the documentary is quite informative and not exactly a piece meant for entertainment per se. Yet if you end up wandering into this side of Netflix, you won’t consider it a punishment either. Despite the amount of information and knowledge imparted by therapists or psychologists, it never feels too verbose. Everything is accurately conveyed from their experience and expertise, and the same is then balanced out by real-life experiences faced by people belonging to the general public, thus making it all the more approachable.
It’s been released at an interesting time of the year indeed, especially since we’re nearing the end of 2022, the period when people tend to make resolutions for the new year. In such a case, watching Take Your Pills is actually a wake-up call for many of us who pop open pill bottles as soon as faced with the least convenience without considering the aftermath.
Living in an age, where ample number of medicines and their alternatives are available easily, this documentary film brings our focus back to the ages old motto, “prevention is better than cure” and highlights the importance of building and improving our resilience instead. Therefore, reminding us of something we’re already well aware of but choose to turn our blind eye towards and tend to take for granted.
Take Your Pills: Xanax is now streaming on Netflix.
Also read: The Rig Season 1 Trailer Breakdown: Game of Survival, Mysteries and More
But antidepressants are okay and not addictive? I call bullshit.