The Connection

A chronic heroin addict living in the apartment, Leach is nervous, volatile, and highly dependent on the drug. He oscillates between cynicism and vulnerability as he becomes more entangled in the filmmakers' project. His fear of exploitation shows in how he responds to the camera, and his ultimate overdose exposes the real dangers of their enterprise.

The documentary cameraman who records the addicts, claiming to preserve their truth while also facilitating manipulation. He films Jim coaching the junkies and becomes complicit in the crew’s exploitation, blurring the line between observer and participant. His presence frames the film’s meta-narrative about who gets to tell the story.

The drug connection who arrives with authority, injecting and manipulating the group to maintain control. He supplies heroin, revives Leach after the overdose, and forces a performance that suits the film’s narrative. His presence reveals the power dynamics within the room and the performers' dependence on the dealer.

An older woman who enters the apartment with little awareness of the crew’s plan, embodying lost innocence and vulnerability. She becomes a passive participant in a world she does not understand, a symbol of religious pretense amidst exploitation. Her presence emphasizes the ethical fragility of including unsuspecting figures in a documentary scenario.

The documentary director who finances the addicts’ fixation and urges the crew to push the film’s cinematic angle. He wants to capture the 'connection behind the connection' and even volunteers to try heroin, highlighting his distance from the addicts’ reality. By insisting the film belong to him, he reveals the exploitative center of the project.