Bad Cinema: Kids (1995) "Wake-up call to the modern world"

If I was to compare this film to a food product, I would compare it to marmite...you either love it or hate it. I personally hated it. I could barely watch a few moments of it without cringing or being disgusted by the graphic portrayal of disturbing themes such as drug abuse with characters that are underage, and actually look underage as well, raising some seriously disturbing and illegal themes.

Despite my revulsion, I will admit that the movie did hit me pretty hard. It emphasised on themes that are true to real life that us as citizens tend to overlook for a simpler, naive life. There are going to be children who lacks parental guidance, whether its because the parents simply do not have the ability to rear a child, or whether they are preoccupied with caring for a new-born. This would lead the child to go explore life freely by themselves and without any supervision, they could quite possibly discover substances like drugs. The many non-extreme camera techniques and the shaky camera also contributed to the realism of the film. I quote Janet Maslin of the New York Times, "Wake-up call to the modern world"

The target audience that may benefit from this film would possibly be parents, by explicitly showing the consequences of the absence of parental guidance and what children or teenagers are capable of exploring, as some parents my be blinded by their own illusion of how their children will always be perfect without any effort on their part. Furthermore, another target audience could be teenagers if it wasnt for the age restriction, as the teenagers can learn about the result of drug abuse and unprotected sex through a striking film, as they may not take the school lessons of such subjects seriously.

A strong, negative review of the film by The Washington Post can be found below.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/kidsnrkempley_c029f5.htm

Should a hard hitting film such as Kids to explore realistic themes in everyday life as close to real life as possible be classified as an documentary film instead of a movie, which is usually associated with entertainment? If it was not released in cinemas, but as a DVD for educational purposes, would the reviews and the reception be different?