This awesome documentary looks at the prohibition against cannabis/hemp/marijuana in the US. The movie is composed entirely of historical footage, and chronicles the beginning of the war against marijuana up to the present. It shows the true racist beginnings of the first laws against marijuana. There's alot of footage of Harry Anslinger's massive propaganda campaign, which is truly laughable now. The movie is quite funny, this is because all the government propaganda against pot has been so ridiculous and exaggerated over the years ("If you smoke it, you will go INSANE and KILL people!"). The movie shows how the public and media's attitude changed about pot, but the government failed to respond to ever-growing legalization demands. You're also presented the monetary figures on the war against marijuana over the years, it increases dramatically (till this very day).
Mann picked the best parts of old films and newsreels, and used nice collage techniques to link them together, which makes the movie very enjoyable to watch. Along with the incredible soundtrack, which is mostly old pot songs with some cool original tracks (like the opening credit music). There are even some really cool animations, and to top it off, Woody Harrelson does a nice job of narrating.
The DVD includes a few extras, but nothing to get very excited about. The creator of Grass, Ron Mann, has a short interview where he comes across as being very stoned. A deleted opening sequence is also included, which is interesting but not that great. I was excited about the High Times magazine gallery, thinking it was gonna be every single High Times cover ever printed! Unfortunately they only included about 25 covers, which is disappointing (they could have easily included every cover). NORML provided a state-by-state marijuana legal reference guide (you can choose which state to read about), this turned out to be the best extra feature. High-definition transfer for 16x9 televisions and dolby digital is always nice too. Overall I really love this DVD, mainly because the movie is so great. The DVD picture and sound quality is good, and the extras are decent. I HIGHLY recommend picking this one up.
