Customer Reviews

Emperor of Hemp

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Whether or not you believe marijuana and /or hemp should be legal or not, this documentary is a must-see for everyone. This isn't your run of the mill "legalize it dude" flick. Watch this movie and you will learn about the facsinating 10,000 year history of the hemp plant, while gaining deep insights into Jack Herrer's transformation from Goldwater Republican to Hemp Activist. What's amazing is how Jack, a God-Fearing, Flag-Waving pro-war Republican during the Vietnam War (and who served in Korea), transforms into a driven hemp activist after smoking marijuana for the first time and learning the true history of hemp. It's a tragedy that this movie isn't required in American Schools so that our country could know our true history. You will not be disappointed.

The Emperor of Hemp documentary was inspired by hemp pioneer Jack Herer's book The Emperor Wears No Clothes and financed by the (late) founder of The Body Shop, Anita Roddick. The film tells the story of hemp, cannabis, and the origins of American drug policy using the life of Jack Herer as a backdrop.

Herer came of age in the 1950's as a flag-waving Republication stanchly opposed to marijuana. When he discovered the falsehoods in the government's propaganda, he transformed into a pro-hemp activist, encouraging the country to re-consider the crop that had been an agricultural staple for centuries before America outlawed it. Herer opened the first hemp store (in Venice Beach, CA) and began a long career as an educator and activist for the crop he believes could revolutionize our food, fuel, paper, and even medical industries.

Throughout his activist career, Jack Herer has repeatedly screened a 14-minute WW II-era government film reel entitled "Hemp for Victory," snippets of which appear in this documentary. The U.S. government disavowed the film as a hoax. Despite these earnest efforts to discredit his movement, Herer and company were able to unearth proof at the Library of Congress that the film was indeed produced by the Department of Agriculture. This is just one of Herer's many victories in exposing the hypocrisy of the government's war on drugs. Pick up The Emperor of Hemp to learn more.

If you have not seen this you should. No matter what you think you know about hemp and its by-products, you will learn new information in this documentary that will really make you think!

Interesting and informative video of Jack Herer, noted hemp advocate. Well worth watching.

One need not use marijuana (I don't), nor be interested in drugs, to find this movie fascinating for the history, politics, misinformation, and corporate profit motives that are unveiled. I wish it had gone further into the true politics and economics of drug laws and the war on drugs (don't be gullible enough to think the government gives a d*** about protecting you).

Jack Herer's story is quite interesting, and the heroic portrayal of him surely rings truer than of, say, George W Bush, but I'd rather have seen more details about political corruption and social costs.

While millions die from tobacco, alcohol, and prescription drugs, this one plant has been vilified for very different reasons. I subscribe to the movie's "conspiracy theory" that it relates in part to the competition with profitable oil-derived synthetic fibers and tree-based paper, both of which were mostly made from hemp until 100 years ago. The U.S. Constitution is written on hemp paper, and George Washington encouraged all patriots to grow it, as did the 1942 USDA film, "Hemp for Victory."

The prohibition against this useful crop is very analogous to the British prohibition against Indians making salt from sea water, which Gandhi famously disobeyed. Thoreau would be proud of this movie's portrayal of the duty to civil disobedience.

So we pay billions of dollars of tax money to prosecute and incarcerate marijuana users who harmed no one while prohibiting cancer & AIDS patients and others from an unusually safe and effective herbal remedy. 14 million man hours of incarceration and parole, according to the movie. What could we have accomplished with 14,000,000 hours of work and all the money spent on those jails?!?

The politicians belong in jail, and the users, by and large, probably have much higher moral character. Watch this movie with an open mind, as if you'd never heard of the crop, and you'll be stunned at the callous waste and stupidity (if not greed).

This documentary showed me information of great interest and also it showed me the great work a man can accomplish if he gets the right idea and the right time to do it.

It's a bit too brief-- it's the one time in my life where I thought a documentary could of been longer ... It left me wanting more.

Very informative. I was shocked to see the bonus footage of the government encouraging farmers to grow hemp. It was for the war but it was surprising to see.

This is a great video, very informative. Like a condensed video format of The Emperor Wears No Clothes. Great buy, I recommend it to anyone.