Nach Hause

An interesting insight into several homeless communities around the USA. We follow several homeless people, but never really get to know any of them or follow them for a while. What's left is a superficial documentary with just a few too many drone shots and time lapses.

This short provides an impressionistic take on the challenges of homelessness on the West Coast. It's a well done-cinematically-panoramic view of the issue. It focuses on several persons and treats their story with dignity. It also hints at or states some causes of homelessness as well as ways we are trying to tackle the problem. But it isn't very insightful.

I think the film could have been vastly improved by either cutting it down by 20 minutes-the overall artistic point is conveyed in that amount of time. Or they could have fleshed this out into a feature by getting some historical context and expert interviews. As it is now it is too shallow for its runtime.

Homelessness; the scourge of society and the hardship of those unfortunate to suffer this social-disease. The 9th of January 1933 was a poignant moment in the world of homelessness as George Orwell's book "Down and Out in Paris and London" was published; an undercover exposé of the rough-sleepers, tramps and vagabonds within these two cities, minus the tents but doss-houses and back-street life alike.

Today, and in particular, here, the States of California and Washington, in the United States of America, these concerns for the destitute are ever more relevant as fatefulness within a system of capitalism, plutocracy and the proceeds of a banking system, housing market and health care takes no prisoners. The tip of the iceberg. An undercurrent of unjust and unfavourable statistics that blight good-society and deliver hopelessness to the unfortunates. Lead Me Home is here to shed light on a dark underbelly of American culture gone oh-so-wrong.

The independent body The National Alliance to End Homelessness is committed to thwarting and ending homelessness within the United States makes claim that by January 2020 some 580,466 people were suffering homelessness in the USA. Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk have linked three West Coast cities (Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle) via the form of oratorical description and visual enlightenment, from those living this lonely road, rather than the medium of literature. We see them all here and for differing reasons; narcotics, family tragedies, ex- veterans, the mentally ill, health issues, abuse and those who have fallen from the conventional lifestyle due to predicaments out of their control, giving their heart-felt account of, as the disenfranchised, sat front-of-camera, a wanting evaluation to a higher social standing; a home. Security. Worthfulness. And rightly so.

This short feature dwells more on the visual narrative that we see, in contrast, to those living their conventional lifestyle in warm, safe environments such as homes and apartments, living their daily lives; whilst the clear reality of the oratorical description deliberates on the tent-cities of skid row. The contradiction is subtle, but, also, is its underlined visual message; those who have. Those who need.

A pro-active stance is undertaken by said Directors'; we bear witness to the NIMBY (an acronym for Not In My Back Yard) mentality that shows how this conventional lifestyle, this comfortable lifestyle, chooses to become indifferent, to be ignorant of the woes and reason of this underclass when a Shelter is proposed near homes of those wanting to turn away from the street-life. No help here, move along.

The combination of all narratives, attitudes and conclusions are as dividing as they are uniting in their stark message. This contradiction is also a plight of contemporary thinking and an echo of how societies have always been to those pushed out, fallen through or simply dropped out of conventional society. With a soundtrack to elevate the visual of overhead shots and up-close-and-personnel monologues there is a tenderness of conveyance of the dire predicaments of these human beings. Each having a backstory that shocks and oozes empathetic alarm. Short in stature is Lead Me Home but the message is both deep and far reaching; Down and Out In Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle; An exposé of an American tale.

Other reviewers criticised the lack of depth or storytelling. For me, that was the beauty of this documentary. It was an honest example of the huge difficulty that faces people who are homeless, and the community workers trying to provide support. Solutions are rarely easy and we are often left with many questions to be answered and unmet needs. Perhaps those who didn't like the doco were left feeling like the situation wasn't resolved. Perhaps that was the point. An extra 20 minutes sharing the interviewees solutions to the crisis would have made it a 10.

This was an interesting look into homelessness. It doesn't glamorise or glorify it. It shows it's hard and cruel. Once again it shows that people are just people and that bad things happen to anyone.

It humanises them.