Hector

Hector. A film starring the brilliant Peter Mullan as a homeless Glaswegian who embarks on his annual pilgrimage to a London shelter for christmas with his fellow homeless friends. A beautiful study of human kindness set amongst inner demons and long lost loved ones. A life affirming 8 out of ten

Really touching and well constructed film with a strong supporting cast for Peter Mullan in the title role. Especially worth viewing around Xmas time to remind us that most of us have no idea of how rough sleepers and people down on their luck really live. It's the sort of film that George Orwell would have wanted for his book " Down And Out In Paris And London" I'm sure.

With supporting cast including Gina McKee and Stephen Tompkinson you can judge how highly regarded this film is.

Peter Mullan ('Tyrannosaur') plays the eponymous 'Hector' in this film. He is sleeping rough in some part of Scotland with two friends and it is deep winter. He is in failing health but seems to just carry on eking out an existence.

The film follows him on a journey from Scotland to London to a temporary Christmas shelter that he has been attending for years. Here he knows people and sees it as a sort of family. And family is the one thing he has been running from but now feels it is time to reconnect with those from his past.

Now this is a simple story on first looking at it – but the complexities that lead a person to any given point in their life are never so straightforward and that is the case here too. The film reveals at a slow pace but with absolute charm. This is the sort of film that moves you with its sheer force of story telling and sense of human frailty and as such is a wonderful piece of cinema that I can only recommend.

Came across this film on Netflix and enjoyed every minute. Laughed and cried. The acting was so realistic and the characters really drew me in. I was surprise home d that I had not been aware of "Hector" before and was pleased to find it. The film brought home the different reasons for becoming homeless and made me and my husband think deeper about how society help. I think that this film should be shown in schools to raise awareness.

Sympathetic portrayal of the homeless problem in our world.