I was privileged to see this movie, just a week ago. But actually I truly lived it. I grew up in the mean streets of Newark, NJ. And easily saw my life displayed in this mini-series. I too have found my way into recovery. I no longer hang on the mean corners, I am a productive member of society, trying to provide a good life for my two children. We have relocated to upstate New York, and occasionally go back to visit family. I truly hope that other's like the addicts depicted in this movie find recovery. I would like to thank all of the the people involved in this movie. It was very moving but most of all it is REALITY for a lot of people.

Living just outside Baltimore, I've driven through the corner of Fayette and Monroe streets more than once; I've seen and felt its ugly presence, but never really knew the place. It consists mostly of slums and you pray your car doesn't break down here. I read the area was a prosperous, middle-class neighborhood not so long ago, but now it looks as though everything of value has been torn out of it and that's because it has. Once you've seen Charles S. Dutton's "The Corner," you'll understand just what this corner is and how it got that way. What's more, you will never be able to forget it.Gary McCullough is the living symbol of The Corner: he used to drive a Mercedes, had a good job, invested his money well and could have had a comfortable life in the suburbs. He had money to burn and that's just what he did with it: he married Fran, a junkie, and they probably both thought she was only a "recreational user" until they fell, individually and as a family. Now they're the most miserable, wretched addicts imaginable, with nothing to show for their lives, existing only for the next fix. To get drug money Gary and his friends have employed every scam they could think of, from shoplifting and stealing cars to stripping every retrievable piece of metal from every building around and selling it for scrap. The McCulloughs' son DeAndre is only 15 but headed straight for the same oblivion: he's stopped going to school and he sells drugs on the street with his friends. He's still young and healthy, but give him time - he'll become a user and end up like his parents. The Corner sucks you in, so they say - it takes everything and gives back nothing. Many of the once-well-kept homes have turned into shooting galleries, where ghost-like beings lie about with open sores, wanting nothing from life (and having nothing) but their next drug high. Oh, the McCulloughs try to right themselves - Fran goes for treatment, Gary temporarily holds a job and DeAndre promises he'll go back to school (anything to avoid being sent to "juvie" with the violent "D.C. kids.") But Fran and Gary slip back and DeAndre's sporadic "education" consists largely of playing basketball and reading a Martin Luther King speech aloud. Worse is yet to come, for rival gangs will try to shoot DeAndre and his drug-selling pals off the street and Gary will eventually succumb to an overdose. Only Fran, her will and endurance tested to its limits, will detox and return to work and a life of sobriety, trying to rescue DeAndre in the process.This series is based on the people who actually live on The Corner of Fayette and Monroe and uses their real names. It's done in mock-documentary style and director Dutton even interviews the real McCulloughs at the end, bringing a kind of closure no mere fiction could hope to attain. Just as powerful as the story is the cast. T.K. Carter as Gary, Sean Nelson as DeAndre and Khandi Alexander as Fran are simply splendid (as is the rest of the cast) and they bring a gripping and terrible poignancy to their roles. Reading David Simon's "The Corner," on which the miniseries was based, only made me appreciate Dutton's achievement more. This is as powerful a drama as you're ever likely to see and should become a true American classic. It is a biting, awful and only-too-true story of American cities like Baltimore and what drugs have done to them. Now that I've seen "The Corner," I feel I finally know The intersection of Fayette and Monroe -and every open-air drug market like it - for what it really is.

It's hard for me to convey the impact of this type of film to those who think it is "cinema". I lived five years in Baltimore, and cut through these neighborhoods everyday on my way home. I am not a junkie nor did I want to be in this neighborhood. I was in school and broke and needed to get from point A. to point B. The gut-wrenching truth of this documentary/film makes me thankful for the advantages I received. Mr. Dutton took a brutal story and directed a brutal documentary that rings so real, it was painful to watch. I could've given money to Gary, or "Fat Kurt", or "Blue". My first year there I was a sucker. I gave a dollar to every cause and every story. They looked like junkies, but I didn't know that at the time. Those were the easy days. I was stopped/accosted/confronted by every type of junkie/thug/moron portrayed in this film in the days following. In fact, the "Wendy's" that Andre works at was less than two blocks from my home. Anyway, This film portrays to America the grip drugs have on our cities. This not a race issue, it's a junkie issue. Drugs don't know color, or age, socioeconomic boundaries. Mr. Dutton has grittily revealed this slice of Americana few want to believe is there. There is no whimsy or exaggeration or sentimentality or cinematic liberty taken here. The gloves are off and the cast are some actors, some real people. If you've ever wondered why our inner cities seem to perpetuate problems, watch this documentary. There is a portrayal of the larceny of childhood, the desperation of the poor, those who wish things could go back to the way they were, The gravity established is unavoidable. And if you think it's a joke, the finale reminds you this was not an episode of some show on a major network. This is not easy to watch. But it's well worth it.

After viewing all six episodes of "The Corner" I sincerely believe that this extraordinary mini-series could've been a great film. I can see this film challenging the majority of so called masterpiece films in the theater right now, probably putting most of those films to shame.This film has everything I expect from masterpiece film-story telling. First of all, unlike a lot of the films made by African-American filmmakers, it doesn't hold back on the truth. Charles S. Dutton did a marvelous job of telling a story about real life in inner cities all across America and with out holding back on the truth. The film consists of stereotypes most African-Americans, especially those who are living safely in Hollywood away from the ghetto, want deny being reality in most Black communities. But this film doesn't apologize for the stereotypes or anything, while some of the characters are apologetic about many things in their own lives. Secondly, the acting was one of the best by an ensemble African-American cast in recent years. Thirdly, the film was shot well, using little style to the shots so that it would have that documentary feel. I also found each scene in the film to be well written, like some great scripts of the past like Good Will Hunting and the Deer Hunter, both great films. So we've seen films about the inner city before (Boyz N'the Hood, Menace II Society) this one. Who cares? Hollywood had made dozens of titles dealing with the mafia, and most of those films are great. However, this film stands alone from the rest, making viewers sympathize with and see each character as being exactly who they are: human beings that make mistakes. This film doesn't demonize the drug addicts in the film regardless of their sometimes immoral ways of getting that drug. "The Corner" ranks amongst one of the best mini series ever made for television. Despite the fact that it wasn't a feature film, I still rank it over the majority of films of recent years as well.If you had never been to the ghetto and you want to grasp an understanding of how must people in the inner city lives, this mini series is what you should see. Out of a grade of an A+, which is super excellent, to a F, I give this film an A+. I also give it 10 stars...