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Video Librarian - February, 01 2008

January/February 2008 (Volume 23, Issue 1)

Living Broke in Boom Times ***
(2007) 74 min. DVD: $150: public libraries & high schools; $295: colleges & universities. Skylight Pictures (dist. by New Day Films). PPR. ISBN: 1-57448-199-1.
Living Broke in Boom Times condenses three documentaries by filmmakers Pamela Yates and Peter Kinoy concerning the plight of America’s homeless and efforts to affect government policy—presented with new retrospective wraparound commentary from key activists. “Takeover” (1991) chronicles events surrounding the first national housing takeover, in which homeless people in eight cities organized to simultaneously settle in empty HUD houses. “Poverty Outlaw” (1997) focuses on a dispossessed single mother forced to make choices that society deems illegal (such as living in empty houses or stealing thrown-away food), while also becoming involved in activist work related to the problems faced by the poor in the wake of welfare reform. And “Outriders” (1999) documents the 1998 New Freedom Bus Tour, following a group of 50 poor Pennsylvanians (including babies and teens) on a month-long cross-country trip—collecting the stories of similar folk who lost their jobs during a period of supposed economic expansion, or were ejected from the welfare rolls—and ultimately arriving at the United Nations, where the group alleges that U.S. policies regarding the poor represent a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Taken together, the three films offer a powerful and impassioned look at a segment of American society too often ignored. Divided into chapters (which make this especially suitable for classroom use), DVD extras include a featurette by Yates and Kinoy on their work, an artfully arranged slideshow, and a brief 1990 poetry performance by Will Sales entitled “Death of a Neighborhood.” Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)

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