Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #516 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-04-06
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 346 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The bleak reality of drug addiction is captured with unflinching authenticity in The Corner, an excellent, reality-based HBO miniseries. Having lived on the streets of West Baltimore, Maryland, where this compelling drama takes place, actor-director Charles S. Dutton knows the territory, physically, socially, and emotionally, and his compassionate approach is vital to the series' success. Dutton cares for his characters deeply enough to give them a realistic shred of hope, even when hope is consistently dashed by the ravages of addiction. This is, at its root, a family tragedy, focusing on errant father Gary (T.K. Carter, in a heartbreaking performance) a once-successful investor trapped in a tailspin of heroin dependency. His estranged wife Fran (Khandi Alexander) was the first to get hooked, and she's struggling to get clean, while their 15-year-old son DeAndre (Sean Nelson, from the indie hit Fresh) deals drugs, temporarily avoiding their deadly allure while facing the challenge of premature fatherhood.

Through revealing flashbacks and numerous local characters, we see the explicit fallout of addiction, and while violence occasionally erupts, its constant threat is secondary to Dutton's dramatic vision, which remains steadfastly alert to the humanity and neglected potential of these lost and searching souls. The Corner is,essentially the civilian flipside of HBO's equally laudable series The Wire, which approaches a similar neighbourhood from a police-squad perspective. Performances are uniformly superb, details are uncannily perfect, and for all of its human horror, The Corner is riveting, not depressing. A closing interview with the characters' real-life counterparts bears witness to the fact that these lives, with inevitable exceptions, need not be lost forever. --Jeff Shannon

DVD Description
On the front lines of America's drug war, one family is living in the crossfire.

Synopsis
Emmy award-winning miniseries THE CORNER follows the trials and tribulations of a family living in a ghetto community. Sean Nelson (FRESH) stars as a teenage boy struggling to fight off street life pressures; namely drugs and violence. His parents (played by Khandi Alexander and T.K. Carter) are of little help, as they work hard to bring home a steady income and a sense of normalcy, but continually fail.

Customer Reviews

Pre-wire - a warm up if you will
I watched the Corner having already watched the Wire and loved it. Despite being freaked out that a lot of the same actors are in both series (especially when they are junkies in the Corner and police in the Wire)it acts as a sort of warm up for newbies. The 6 part mini series is based on real interviews and it's gritty ie. they show a lot of needles which made my husband very queasy ! The characters are likeable though and considering I wasn't sure how dark this would be I found myself really engaged in the story of how members of one family have been affected by poverty and drugs.

This really won't appeal to everyone, but that's not the point. It't nowhere near as many hours as the wire so you can get an introduction or if like me you watch it after then you pretty much know you'll get the hang of it. Well written and beautifully acted throughout - worth a watch.

Well worth watching
As a fore runner to the brilliant series 'The Wire', 'The Corner' has plenty going for it. This series is in six parts and is based around a family from Baltimore. The story charts a year in the life of this family and as this is based on a true story it does make for grim viewing at times. It is a fine piece of television.

The acting is pretty much fabulous across the board here and in particular Khandi Alexander as Fran. She is superb and for her to stand out in a cast this good says much for her performance. There are several actor's from 'The Wire' in this series and it seems odd at first to see them in roles completely different to the ones we are more used to. There is a very nice touch at the end when the real character's featured are interviewed and this obviously adds to the realism.

So is it as good as 'The Wire'? In my opinion it isn't quite up to the very high standards that that series has set but it is definitely well worth watching and would make a very worthwhile purchase.

A masterpiece of television
This is the story of one families and one neighbourhoods interaction with the drug trade - shown in all its naked detail sometimes difficult to watch but ultimitely truthful to the story of those people who lived this life in 1993 in Baltimore.
Reluctant though I am to say it - it is at least as good as The Wire.
Absolutely devestating.