Customer Reviews

Homeless In America

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I screened this film because I wanted to know if it's appropriate for a class in peace and justice studies I teach. It is. Directors Tommy Wiseau and Kaya Redford have put together a very nice collage of homeless people from the streets of LA.

I emphasize the word "collage." If you're looking for facts and figures and analysis, you won't find it in this film. Analysis and data are important--crucial--but their problem is that they tend to distract us from the faces of real people. "Homeless in America" fills that gap by introducing us to a number of very real folks. The film is deliberately impressionistic, and consequently has a strong visual impact that sticks with the viewer.

Some of the unforgettable people interviewed in the film: There's the 70-year-old man, black as ebony, beard snow white, who declaims with the eloquence and fire of a prophet. There's Roy, a baseball-capped man who seems emotionally disturbed, who says that he's on the street because he's running from his problems, but wonders why society isn't a bit more ready to help him now that he wants to quit running. There's the quietly sobbing black girl who lives in a makeshift in a freeway tunnel. An intruder has just stabbed a friend of hers. There's the attractive middle-age woman who claims that she was once the wife of an NBA player, a multimillionare. Who knows if she's telling the truth? Who cares? There's the LA chief of police, who talks in the clipped language of the bureaucrat about the "issue" of homelessness, and there's the aging and weary-looking director of the LA Mission who says, grief and frustration burring his voice, that we need to learn how to love better in this country.

All in all, a good cinematic introduction to homelessness. Especially recommended for middle class folks who generally won't get within a block of a street person.

First off, Tommy Wisseu is not in this film at all. A real disappointment. Second the premise is, "lets film a bunch of homeless people and call it a documentary." Third, at times the picture goes out of focus because the camera guy can't figure out what he's doing. Fourth, the sound is terrible at times because they film under overpasses and in crowded areas and don't know how to filter it out in post production. And lastly the interviews contradict one another, a man says he is fine living on the street and sees no reason to go to a homeless shelter, then we cut to a woman who is probably an actress saying "no one chooses to be homeless."

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY THIS IS NOT THE ROOM

I wanted to find a film that captured the plight of the homeless to present to my college class.

I found the film to be somewhat on track but so much more could have been depicted. In my opinion it would be better to present to high school students.

It does, however, drive home the point that many Americans are a heartbeat (or a paycheck away) from being homeless and that there is so much more that could be done.

The candid video statements of the homeless people in this film are touching yet hopeful. I liked them as people! The pans of camp-like homeless dwellings under bridges, along sidewalks, and in open spaces will grip you. The irony of the statements from the police chief and the director of the LA Mission will inform you. You cannot watch this educational film without having your views of this situation changed.

We have been searching for something on homelessness that would be appropriate to use with the children and their families at our church. Though it has some minor problems, it was by far the best video for our purposes.

This unfortunate film could have been at least average with just some minor modifications.

If the cinematographer had been a bit more skilled, or a point (other than randomly showing homeless people) made, or there had been better production values.

On the upside, this is the best film Tommy Wisseu has made yet.