“The business of pain”, a film that unmasks the world of fentanyl

There is an entire subgenre of fiction where the consequences of greed are examined. How far do people go to achieve their goals? What is so valuable to them that it would lead them to break the law? How high will they rise, amid laughter and screams, before falling under the weight of their own actions? If the story is well told, it does not matter how well known it is, or how obvious the ending is; the viewer will continue watching it until the credits roll.

The most recent of these stories is “The Business of Pain” (“Pain Hustlers”), a Netflix film directed by the British David Yates, who leaves aside the magic of the saga “Harry Potter” to immerse themselves in a sinister world that has nothing to envy of the ranks of the Death Eaters: opioids such as the now famous fentanyl, used to treat pain and prescribed in unethical ways and where health visitors, doctors, managers, CEOs and more gears of an industry that should aim to heal people.

Although the film is based on the book of the same name by journalist Evan Hughes, the script invents characters and companies to tell its story more freely. It is a fiction that takes the essence of reality as input, but does not follow the facts to the letter. It is a hybrid focused on Liza Drake (Emily Blunt), a woman who did not finish high school, with a sick daughter, who discovers her talent as a salesperson; Just what a pharmaceutical company on the verge of bankruptcy needs to rise above the competition and that has unscrupulous people like Pete Brenner (Chris Evans), who discovers Liza’s talent and does not hesitate to exploit it.

Why are these stories of booms and busts so popular among viewers? According to Lawrence Grey, producer of the film, the people who saw the film before the premiere in the “focus groups” highlighted the empathy that was generated with the protagonist played by Blunt, this single mother who has “within her a gift incredible, this brilliance and intelligence to give to the world.”

“She wants her life to matter, she wants to be a part of something, and then she gets the opportunity to do it, but it involves these complex moral decisions that she has to make. And I think that’s something that a lot of people experience in their lives.”, indicated the producer in conversation with El Comercio. For his part, David Yates appeals to another reason that explains the human compulsion to these stories.

“We are given this idea that we should all prosper and do well, but it is a competitive system where there are winners and losers. The rise and fall are in all our stories. We all have periods in our lives where we feel like we thrive and there are days where we stumble, so that’s why this story could provoke empathy.”said the filmmaker.

Be that as it may, the story of “The Business of Pain” has real victims: people who were prescribed fentanyl to relieve pain, but who were not eligible to consume the drug safely. How did the drugs reach these people? In real life, companies bribed doctors to prescribe certain drugs, as well as employing unqualified people to convince these doctors. The result? Countless numbers of addicts, several of whom can be seen in large cities in the United States, on the streets, walking like “zombies.” They are the other side of these stories of triumph and debacle.