PAINKILLER
Genre: a pharmaceutical company willing to do anything
Direction: Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster. With Matthew Broderick, West Duchovny, Uzo Aduba, Taylor Kitsch. On Netflix
Can pain be the object of economic profit? Is it possible to build an empire by cynically exploiting a form of addiction? The Netflix miniseries Painkiller wants to reflect on this delicate border, borrowing a true story, that of Purdue Pharma and the marketing of OxyContina drug from the opioid family at the center of a controversial judicial and social issue in the United States about fifteen years ago.
Inspired by an article from The New Yorker and based on a book by Barry Meier, the series plunges its blade into a disturbing story, that of a pharmaceutical company willing to do anything to profit from the needdesperation and good faith of patients.
The Sakler family, owners of Purdue pharmaceuticals in the miniseries “Painkiller” (photo by Keri Anderson / Netflix).
The series is a cross-section of an America which, as often happens, can be as free and ingenious as it is cynical and violentand which with the tools of marketing, image and advertising manages to cajole entire groups of people.
A scene from the miniseries “Painkiller” (photo by Keri Anderson / Netflix).
Investigating the Sackler family is in particular a district investigator, Edie Flowers (Udo Azduba), an expert in medical scams. Each episode starts with real testimonies from family members of the “victims” of OxyContinin a scheme in which documentary, fiction and social commentary are carefully mixed.
For fans of disturbing forgotten stories, useful for shedding light on the cynicism of economic power.
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