It's not often that someone manages to successfully create the genre of Greek tragedy in a modern setting. If I were to pin any director's name to such a project, it would be Darren Aronofsky. That being said, he's already managed to create said-tragedy in Requiem for a Dream. The story about a group of druggies attempting to break out of their sorry states but ultimately failing and ending up worse off then they they started is something that, had it not revolved around drugs, could have come from Sophocles. It is a story that is well constructed and well executed, but a story I can only watch a handful of times over a period of years.
I can only liken watching Requiem of a Dream to watching a train wreck happen. On some primal, horribly morbid and vulgar level, it is entertaining and interesting to watch. It isn't until you realize you're watching people being hurt that you start to feel bad. In most cases, this transition last only seconds, but in Requiem for a Dream, the audience is constantly presented with new "train wreck" scenarios. Each one becoming more painful to watch then the next. It is as if the film is stuck in its second act, plummeting to Earth without the hope of there being any sort of salvation before the end.
That being said, it is a well executed train wreck. Aronofsky and the actors make you feel for these characters. Yes, they are locked in their fateful course of self-destruction, but there is sympathy and pity for them. Not unlike infamous Greek tragedies, we watch these characters orchestrating their own doom in an effort to understand human flaws. One of my friends said this movie was a two hour long anti-drug commercial and I am inclined to agree with him under one condition: it is an anti-addiction story. Not just to drugs, but other habits that can be just as destructful.
I know Requiem for a Dream is considered a hallmark of film, but it is a difficult one to watch without promise of resolution.