Dark Days

Dark Days is an excellent documentary highlighting the hardships faced by the homeless people of New York City. Castigated and mistreated by citizens and government officials on the streets, the homeless resort to living in the underground railway tunnels, where they will be left alone. Mark Singer does an excellent job of showing that the 'land of the free' is not so free when people are denied basic human rights. Singer allows his audience to partake in communication with the homeless, something we rarely take the time to do when we pass a homeless person on the streets. His documentary helps us understand their backgrounds and misfortunes and how they came to be homeless. Singer's documentary really compels one to fight the stereotypes and discomforts associated with the homeless. He captures human suffering in a place where we most often forget to look for it.

I just came across this gem of a movie on cable last night. I'm not a social activist and I don't particularly have a soft spot in my heart for the homeless. I lived in San Francisco for a while and I got pan handled by at least 20 people a day walking back and forth to the train...usually much more then 20 people , so that made disillusioned pretty quickly. But watching this movie did exactly what Marc Singer set out to do...made me sympathetic to these individuals in the film regardless of my preconceptions about the homeless in the United States. Yes, most of the people in this film certainly didn't make the right decisions in life, some were openly smoking crack on camera and most definitely were not educated. But it made me realize that we all make some mistakes and it is possible for some of those mistakes to spiral into their situations.

The "characters" in the film were all much more articulate then I would have expected from some homeless people. They all told their individual stories but none of them tried to make any excuses for things they've done in the past to get them where they were which is what I think ultimately made me feel sympathetic to them.

But it was the style of this film that really sucked me in before the characters and subject matter did. It was beautifully shot on B&W film which was impressive considering the lighting issues inside the tunnel. The soundtrack from DJ Shadow was also excellent and really added to the mood of this film. Overall, a great doc. I recommend it to everyone.

I enjoyed this film on a lot of different levels. The camera work is really beautiful, and the film has a loose narrative structure with an uplifting ending. All of the people in the film are very articulate in their own way, which shatters some of the stereotypes people have about the homeless. The movie definitely takes sides, and is sympathetic towards the homeless, but it also makes it very clear that the people made poor choices in their life which lead to their situation. Even in the midst of all their suffering, I found it surprising that they all have excellent senses of humor. The response to the question of "what item that you find in the trash is the easiest to sell?" is particularly hilarious.

It was also nice to see how many of the people in the tunnel form friendships, depend on each other in tough times, and know all of their neighbors' names, something which most people in the US can't claim. The symbolism of the white man and black woman tearing down their home is kind of over the top, but it did make me feel good. I guess I'm a sucker for cheesy stuff like that. The score by DJ Shadow is also extremely well done and appropriate. I agree that the average homeless person in the United States can afford to be much more lazy than those in other poorer countries, and they definitely have more opportunities to escape from poverty, but that doesn't mean that their situation should be taken lightly or ignored.

To the commenter who was angered at the use of the words "faggot" and "sissy" you can't possibly hold bad language and grammar against the people in the film. Have you ever listened to a conversation among children in the supposedly wholesome Midwest, or even in supposedly tolerant cities like San Francisco? I can assure you that the term "faggot" is still tossed around quite a bit. Homophobic attitudes and language are certainly reprehensible coming from educated, middle class children, but coming from an individual surrounded by poverty, chewed up and spit out by the criminal justice system, and breast fed on American popular culture, I don't find it to be much of an offense.

My only complaint would be that the film sugar coats everything a bit by ignoring some of the more unsavory aspects of homeless life and not interviewing the less appealing inhabitants. However, the overall impact of the film is powerful, and ultimately it is a film that everyone should see because it's entertaining and informative on many, many levels. Out of the hundreds of documentaries I have seen, this is definitely one of the top ten, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that I will remember it my entire life.

Dark Days is an amazing first-time documentary project. I saw this last night and was blown away. The guy shot a huge amount of film before developing anything. He was lucky he got the light metering right under such challenging conditions!!! He also never checked the audio until all the shooting was done (more than 50 hours)- another small bit of luck! Mark lived in the tunnels under New York City with homeless people for two years while filming this documentary. He lived homeless in every aspect, even dumpster diving for food.

As for the content of the film, it's an incredibly compassionate look into the lives of a few of the many homeless people who lived under New York City in abandoned railway tunnels for decades. Up until recent years, there was a community of multiple thousands of people living down there. Having read the book the Mole People, I'd say this movie is a more compelling and insightful examination of this story.

To actually get the full effect of the documentary, one must watch the special features on the DVD. From there one will learn that the crew for the movie was composed of the same homeless people who were the subject of the film. These folks knew nothing of film-making, but with the encouragement of one, yes ONE, person, they became a team and had a purpose and something to look forward to.

The point of their teamwork wasn't to gain a home via the welfare system. Their point was to make a film and use any profits toward getting their own home. They knew day in and day out that everything they had worked on up to that point could be useless if the money ran out, but they did it anyway. They went through everything we throw away and made something of it and themselves. Never once did any of the people who were homeless show self-pity. Some even explained how they got where they were and why they stayed there. Watching their story puts a human face and the people we don't even recognize as human when we see them on the street. It is a beautiful story of self-exhile, self-determination and giving back.

If you are bitter, jaded, depressed or full of self-pity, then run to the video store to get this movie. Then be thankful you have a warm dry place to live, money to rent movies and a TV and DVD player.