Dark Days
I just watched this documentary, Dark Days, a film by Mark Singer on Comcast's On Demand, about the “homeless” as we refer to them, in this country. I don’t want to ruin the ending for anyone, so I will try to be as unbiased in my review of this film as the producers were in making it.
This movie films a specific group – the people who live under Penn Station in NY City – and shows their lives from their view-point. I found it fascinating as I sat in my warm living-room, watching my cable t.v. But, you know, under certain circumstances, I could see myself nesting in their dark, dank underground hole. None of those depicted in this documentary are crazy, which is how I tend to think of the homeless. They are down and out, but probably not more so than what many of us in this country (who have families or other support systems) have been at one time or another. If it were not for my family, there are probably a few times in my life when I might have found myself underground, so to speak.
It is amazing the resilience they have; the fortitude they find in order to endure this way of life. My mother used to say that the capacity we humans have to SURVIVE was incredible; given the right circumstances, any of us is capable of waking up every morning begging for his thirty lashes.
At one point, Amtrak sends in armed guards (not policemen – these are guys hired by Amtrak and armed by Amtrak), to “evict” these people from their “homes.” Don’t get angry at Amtrak though, unless you are willing to get angry with yourself and the community you live in.
Just WATCH this film – it will give you a “real” perspective on how the homeless in America live.
This movie films a specific group – the people who live under Penn Station in NY City – and shows their lives from their view-point. I found it fascinating as I sat in my warm living-room, watching my cable t.v. But, you know, under certain circumstances, I could see myself nesting in their dark, dank underground hole. None of those depicted in this documentary are crazy, which is how I tend to think of the homeless. They are down and out, but probably not more so than what many of us in this country (who have families or other support systems) have been at one time or another. If it were not for my family, there are probably a few times in my life when I might have found myself underground, so to speak.
It is amazing the resilience they have; the fortitude they find in order to endure this way of life. My mother used to say that the capacity we humans have to SURVIVE was incredible; given the right circumstances, any of us is capable of waking up every morning begging for his thirty lashes.
At one point, Amtrak sends in armed guards (not policemen – these are guys hired by Amtrak and armed by Amtrak), to “evict” these people from their “homes.” Don’t get angry at Amtrak though, unless you are willing to get angry with yourself and the community you live in.
Just WATCH this film – it will give you a “real” perspective on how the homeless in America live.
posted by francesca at 12:10 PM
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