Just saw "The Finished People" at the Schonell Theatre. That was the saddest, most gutwrenching film I've seen in years. It's about three homeless kids in Cabramatta, a suburb of Sydney, one of the worst neighborhoods in Australia.
There's Tommy, a heroin addict who comes home to find a friend dead from an overdose. He decides to quit, and tries to get a job and go straight with the help of his friend Carla.
Then there's Van, a Vietnamese kid who lives on top of a parking garage because his stepfather beat him so much he had to leave. He meets a girl while stealing some of her clothes, and they become friends. But a secret eventually tears them apart.
Lastly, there's Des, and his pregnant girlfriend. He wants to do right by his girlfriend and his unborn child, but it leads to a tragic ending.
None of these kids are actors. They're all homeless kids from Cabramatta. The movie is a work of fiction, but it was written by these kids. The fact that these kids aren't actors make the whole thing more real, more painful to watch, and more wrenching. There's no tricky camera work, no fancy symbolism... it's a slice of a bleak, dismal life. It makes all of my problems feel like utter bullshit.
This is a movie that really, really needs to be seen. The way that Tommy fights for a job, the way Van feels like there is no hope, the way one gangster says that he has absolutely no dreams whatsoever... It infuriates me that some people in the world have the nerve to look down their nose at these people, desperately trying to make their lives better. "Get a job." "Stop being a parasite on society." "Clean yourself up." No one wants to live on the fucking streets. When these people have never seen a reality outside of a place like South Central, 8 Mile, Cabramatta, Newark... when there's nowhere to go, no rolemodel to follow, when there feels like there's no chance... we truly are the product of our societies.
There's Tommy, a heroin addict who comes home to find a friend dead from an overdose. He decides to quit, and tries to get a job and go straight with the help of his friend Carla.
Then there's Van, a Vietnamese kid who lives on top of a parking garage because his stepfather beat him so much he had to leave. He meets a girl while stealing some of her clothes, and they become friends. But a secret eventually tears them apart.
Lastly, there's Des, and his pregnant girlfriend. He wants to do right by his girlfriend and his unborn child, but it leads to a tragic ending.
None of these kids are actors. They're all homeless kids from Cabramatta. The movie is a work of fiction, but it was written by these kids. The fact that these kids aren't actors make the whole thing more real, more painful to watch, and more wrenching. There's no tricky camera work, no fancy symbolism... it's a slice of a bleak, dismal life. It makes all of my problems feel like utter bullshit.
This is a movie that really, really needs to be seen. The way that Tommy fights for a job, the way Van feels like there is no hope, the way one gangster says that he has absolutely no dreams whatsoever... It infuriates me that some people in the world have the nerve to look down their nose at these people, desperately trying to make their lives better. "Get a job." "Stop being a parasite on society." "Clean yourself up." No one wants to live on the fucking streets. When these people have never seen a reality outside of a place like South Central, 8 Mile, Cabramatta, Newark... when there's nowhere to go, no rolemodel to follow, when there feels like there's no chance... we truly are the product of our societies.
