Initially I thought the filmmaker was going to expose the fact that offenders whose crimes have nothing to do with alcohol and/or addiction are being court-ordered into AA. That is definitely disturbing and worth talking about. But that was only discussed briefly, and the rest of the film went off on several different tangents about isolated incidents of people disillusioned with AA, or others who doubt the disease model of addiction and have their own ideas about it. Those are just opinions however, and opinions are not facts. As with ANY place in society where people gather, there will be bad apples, people who are not genuine or have bad intentions. Meeting someone you later find out is sick, dangerous, or god-forbid ends up harming you is not exclusive to AA, nor is it result of AA not policing its rooms. AA is a confidential self help program for people who suffer from addiction and want help to stop abusing drugs and alcohol. As it is based on anonymity, there are no records kept, and there is no vetting system. Could a violent criminal be there? Absolutely. There could also be one sitting next to you at a coffee shop. Is the ideology that the program is based on for everyone? No. Are people bitter when they don't like the things they hear in the program, and/or because they don't recover or simply have a bad experience? Absolutely. Could they have other problems that have nothing to do with AA? Yes. Has this program helped thousands upon thousands of people recover? Yes. Unfortunately addiction brings some dark experiences and behaviors along with it, and yes, sometimes that carries over in to the rooms. I feel for the mother whose daughter was killed. That is indeed tragic, and it is terrible if her killer was sent to AA by the court instead of to jail. I understand being angry and wanting to lash out, but AA is not the cause. The filmmaker should have stuck to exposing the injustice of sending the criminals in to the rooms, and of the lack of proper vetting for substance abuse counselors, rather than finding a handful of people to bash AA and shape her narrative. Once again, these are opinions and isolated incidences, and are not indicative of the program as a whole.
