Customer Reviews

It Was a Wonderful Life

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

 

 

I'm in my late 40s, and this film portrayed the situation that I fear most - losing my job and not being able to find another one, then losing my apartment, and then being at the mercy of the elements. I have very little family to fall back on, and I could only count on them for very short-term assistance. I suffer from mental illness that can only be controlled with medication, so losing access to medical insurance would plunge me back into depression and emotional instability.

I found the six women who were portrayed in this film to be a lot more resourceful and optimistic than I feel my potential to be.

The film was shot in the early 1990s, so watching it a decade later is a bit strange, since I wonder how much LA has changed in the interim. I suspect that the huge amount of illegal immigration into that area makes it even more difficult to find cheap housing than was the case 10 years ago.

In the late 80s and early 90s there was also a lot more sympathy for homeless people than there appears to be now, and there are probably less municipal/state/federal resources available now than there were back then. Now that the states are all running large deficits in their budgets, and the cost of housing has skyrocketed, it's probably a dreary prospect to be tossed out of the "safe" world.

Jodie Foster's narration was a bit underwhelming, but then that may have been appropriate, since the focus should remain on the subjects of the documentary.

This film shared the same problem with the whole concept behind most documentaries, namely: why do the documentarians not provide assistance to their subjects? Or do they have an obligation simply to portray what they observe without interfering?

This is the type of film that haunts me, that reminds me to figure out what the heck I'm doing with my life to promote fair policies and foster cooperation in my community. Unlike more recent and flashier "social issue" documentaries, this film, and the stories of these working homeless women, play gently and firmly on your conscience. I remember these characters -- I'll remember them for a long time. Foster's narration is note-perfect.

I'm thankful for films like these. The trick, then, is for me, for us, to turn it into to some form of support.

I like Jodie Foster and I happened to find this movie. It turned out to be so good. This movie is a documentary about hidden homeless women. Those could be any one of us. I want to have the strength of holding myself tight enough that it won't affect by any changes around me.

....who took her own life in 1992, shortly after filming. I don't know about the other women, but apparently Lou couldn't take it anymore. I was rooting for her the whole time, since she was able-bodied, younger, and without children or a man. Minimum wage doesn't cut it and something should be done to assure that everyone has a decent, yet humble, home. There is no need for people to live in mansions and be wasteful when there are people like Lou living in U-Hauls and Marie parking her car in a cemetery.

Although this documentary was done fifteen years ago, I rented it because of the title. I find it interesting to know how women do end up homeless. I remember Sixty Minutes doing a segment on homeless women when I was in high school. I have to say that these women are more resourceful than a woman who has a job and a home.
It's a shame that our legal system can barely do anything to help these women to get back on their feet. Yet, they can respond quickly to high-profile cases that are sometimes too outrageous or frivilous. These were women who had good, if not great lives. They were married with children. Some of them were working to make ends meets and not having to worry about tomorrow. Then something happened.
Marital discord, medical injury, loss of employment turned their world upside down. I felt sorry for these women because they were struggling to stay afloat when things took a turn for the worse. Some of them wouldn't turn to their families or friends for assistance; and one didn't have anyone to turn to for assistance.
The thought of what these women are going through is a reflection of what can happen to me and several other women. As much as I whined and complained about not having a place of my own and having to struggle financially, there is always a ray of sunshine.
The only thing we as women need to do is to acknowledge our presence and look out for our well-being. And help each other.
I wonder if there was ever any thought to follow-up on this documentary. One committed suicide and the other was never heard from again. It would be interesting to know what they have been doing since this documentary was made.

It Was a Wonderful Life had quite an effect on me--I was troubled by what had happened to these "hidden homeless" women who live out of their cars and who dress well enough that if I saw them walking down the street I never would have guessed that they were homeless. The documentary flows at a good pace; I was never bored although I do agree with reviewers who note that it's certainly not the most polished documentary I've ever seen. Honestly, I was unaware of the extent of this problem; the film raised my awareness of this issue and if it was a problem then I can just imagine the extent of the problem in today's "Great Recession!"

We meet several women who actually lead quite a comfortable life--or at least a solidly middle class existence before they ran out of money because of a medical illness that apparently was not covered by insurance (or perhaps they lacked health insurance, they film doesn't go into this), bad investments or deadbeat dads/ex-husbands who simply refused to make their child support payments. These women are remarkably talented artists, teachers, realtors and more and they are every bit as well educated as the filmmakers say that they are; one of them is quite a chanteuse and it pained me greatly to see how she ended up homeless with her hopes and chances for subsidized "Section 8" housing dwindled, leaving her in a state of despair and deep depression.

We also learn how these women rarely seek out financial support such as food stamps and public assistance--I assume this is out of pride and a strong determination to make their own way. When interviewed, these women didn't think that they were desperate enough to apply for welfare. Granted, there is some discussion about barriers to collecting public assistance but it's not as in-depth as I would have liked it to be.

The film doesn't attempt to suggest answers for this problem except in the area of ex-husbands who didn't make child support payments--in that arena they state that there have to be stricter laws to be sure that deadbeat dads make their child support payments in a timely fashion. I would have liked the film more if they had explored potential solutions in more depth but it painted such a strong picture of homeless women living out of their cars (or, in one case, a U-Haul truck at times when Lou, a homeless woman, could afford it) that this will haunt me for quite some time to come.

All in all, this is a well done documentary even if it was apparently made on a rather tight budget. I recommend this film for anyone interested in these issues.

A Good doc....add to your JF collection. Music was a disappiontment, as it was merely instumental background.

Though relevant and very heartbreaking, i'd like you keep in mind that these women are flawed in some crucial way. No government should have to take care of physically and mentally capable grown adult women, that's too f'n much. They weren't one paycheck away from poverty at all if you examine this. They all made the financial mistake of depending on one thing, a man or a job or that they were smart enough to make a wise investment with ALL THEIR MONEY. It's attractive to do this but it's been said over and over, create your own financial independence whether you are a man or a woman. Reena is the saddest case of all, hanging on to a husband that's been over for what, 15 years? She had 15 years of some sort of financial support before her rent stopped being payed and she got evicted, though they never explain how she came by her money. Her husband swears he paid all the support he was suppose to, and I think he did. I think he finally cut the purse string and she just wanted to hit bottom as a sort of tantrummy punishment to the world for her unhappiness. She didn't allow her young son to go to Hawaii with her ex-husband because she needed his help while they were being evicted!?!? When she's got four or five other fully grown sons she can depend on??? Let that poor kid go to Hawaii! It reveals what a wacky, greedy, sad woman she is. She should have gotten a job a long time ago, this is a crucial flaw. If anything, we need to educate our women not to be dependent upon others, and perhaps this is the DVD's value, a sort of scared straight for females.

A documentary about homeless women in america. It could have been done in half the time but still it highlights the plight of the homeless that a lot of us tend to ignore. After 15 minutes I found this film started to get quite boring and tended to repeat the same message over and over again through the medium of different women who by the way are incredible human beings.