Without A Home, But Not Without Hope
In August of 2003, I started filming homeless people all around Los Angeles.
Four years later my experience became my first feature film, a personal documentary, called WITHOUT A HOME.
I was twenty-three years old when I began and I had no idea what I was doing. I was listening to a voice that had been in my head for as long as I could remember, following an unexplainable connection to the homeless that I had felt since childhood. I was drawn into their world, and that was enough.
Having recently graduated from film school, I took out a loan on a video camera and hit the streets of my native Los Angeles -- in search of any homeless person who would talk to me.
It was just me setting out on this adventure alone. No crew, no protection!
I created some ground rules for myself which would effectively minimize the degree of danger I was potentially subjecting myself to: Always approach people without my camera first, never shoot at night and always stay in a populated area where people can see me. But by the time I was shooting my third mini DV tape (of what was later to become over 185 hours of footage) I found myself throwing away my silly rules.
And soon enough there I was, hopping a fence in North Hollywood, camera in hand. My new friend Joby, drunk and high, led me down a path alongside the 134 Freeway towards a makeshift tent of silky red tarp that he called home.
My heart raced with nervous excitement as I treaded through the unpaved path to see where he lived. With each step I took, visions of being raped, stabbed and left for dead beside the freeway danced in my head.
But despite common sense and the neurotic voice of my Jewish mother booming emphatically in my mind, I followed my instincts and, in doing so, I was following my heart -- for a hopeless romantic there are worse ways to die.
Neuroses aside, it felt wonderful and liberating to put my faith and even my safety in the hands of these strangers. I spoke to so many people, all with different stories and reasons for how they ended up on the street and it was such an extraordinary, humbling and educational experience for me. I learned of their challenges and setbacks, felt their heartache as if it were my own and realized, as I suspected, that their dreams were not unlike mine.
For the first time, this abstract and profound connection that initially pulled me into their world, became both more palpable and also more concrete.
Despite the sea of differences which separated me from them, it was our shared humanity that took my breath away and touched the deepest part of my soul.
I felt driven to use my camera and the interviews I was compiling as a tool to bridge the gap between the ordinary world I was living in and the one I was visiting each weekend. I wanted to reveal this intricate, dark, beautiful and mysterious web of humanity to the world, not only to show how the other half lives, but as a reminder that in fact they do live.
As time progressed and I got deeper into filming, the people I met were no longer strangers but were becoming my friends. And they were asking me for help. How could I say no? I felt an enormous amount of compassion and love for these people and I wanted to help them however I could. Despite the profound complexity of their problems, I discovered that there were simple things I could do to help.
I made phone calls on their behalf, bought them sketch-books to draw in, drove them places too far to walk and I listened to their incredible stories all the while filming and documenting the experience, which had become just as much mine as theirs.
In time, these good deeds became far more complicated and I soon found myself intertwined in their lives in ways I never would have imagined. Whether I was helping Gilbert bypass the nearly impenetrable bureaucracy in getting him admitted into a detox program for heroin addiction, or offering Aric a ride to his storage facility to collect his winter clothes; for me, the spirit of the intention was the same: I will help you because I care and because I can.
More profound than any action one takes, more charitable than any good deed performed, is the humanity and compassion that lies within us and prompts us to act. There are approximately 90,000 homeless people in Los Angeles, and for the most part they live outside the normal conventions, mores and rules of our society. To see and treat them as a friend and as a human being, instead of a statistic or another body cluttering the sidewalk, is the most powerful thing I believe we can do.
Whether or not you have the time, the means or the desire to inquire about someone's story, or what item of clothing they need to make it through a chilly winter, you can always ask yourself, "How would I treat them if they were a long lost friend or a neighbor in need?" That is how I have come to see homeless people.
WITHOUT A HOME Trailer from Rachel Fleischer on Vimeo.
It has now been nearly 5 years since I began my filming the homeless of Los Angeles. I am in no way an expert, but I have seen firsthand the power we all have as individuals to affect real change not only in their lives, but in our own.
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I recently watched the documentary. powerful. extremely moving.
Having been a street outreach worker, I'm familiar with the stories of homelessness. Homelessness is often difficult to parse. Particularly since it is so large and, to quote Thoreau, contains multitudes. There is no consensus to remedy homelessness BEFORE it happens. The cracks through which people fall in our society are chasms. And the injuries sustained are cataclysmic. Entry into programs to effect change are bureaucratic, byzantine and often counter intuitive. I mean, the task of obtaining a copy of one's birth certificate demands compliance and patience which are often in short supply for those who function outside of systems. Systems, no matter how well-meaning, often assign the individual a number; entry on another waiting list; and instructions for eligibility requirements. The process is demeaning and arbitrarily based on evidentiary qualifiers, ie, SSI #s and proof of citizenship etc. It's enough to drive even the most stalwart of us to distraction. And dementia.
I've been homeless. Seriously so for extended periods. Lived outside, in cars and trucks, and parks. I've also lived in penthouses, wonderful homes, fabulous lofts. I've eaten regularly in the best restaurants in the world, and eaten out of dumpsters and begged for food. I've traveled Europe and this country and some of Canada.
I'm 64 and love my life and am secure with a wonderful partner. Throughout ALL of this, I have been the same person. The same friend. The same neighbor. I've had the same sense of humor and the same quick, insightful mind.
Thank you, Rachel, for discovering this truth and setting out to share that. Life's rich and full, and the more of it and its inhabitants we know and live fully with, the better life will be for us all.
I'm always pleased to see such an effort as yours.
The homeless don't just drop from the sky.
12 years as a volunteer guardian ad litem has shown me how important it is for children to have stable adults in their lives. 80% of children aging out of foster care are leading dysfunctional lives, mental health data for youth in juvenile justice is staggering, and I have a judge that has provided me with the the psychotropic drugs being taken by five and ten year old children.
I've experienced four and five year old suicides.
America is the only industrialized nation without a policy for children. Our imminent harm doctrine only protects children from imminent death...an
How did we get to be so hard on people as a nation?
The costs of abandoning children within our society are huge. The impact on on our schools, city streets, courts, jails, health systems, and prisons is expensive and painful (and it lasts forever for that child).
Life would be much better for all of us if we understood and appreciated the value of each child and were willing to provide the resources to make sure children can learn when they get to school, function as a youth, and graduate from high school with literacy skills proficient to obtain basic work.
www.invisi
miket
Thiss is one movie I want to be sure to see. Hopefully it will also come out on television for everyone to see.
Thank You, beautiful girl.
When my daughter was 2 weeks old, I found myself homeless in san francisco's tenderloin. I was not an addict nor was I mentally ill - I was just a single mom with no support system.
I was lucky - I was able to live in a residential hotel. I had a roof over my head and food.
For me, the worst part of being homeless was feeling like a worthless outcast and a horrible mother for not providing a fluffy pink nursery and a secure home for my child.
Ten years later, I consider this period of homelessness as one of the most valuable times of my life. It is no longer possible for me to judge other human beings by their external circumstances, and I have taught this to my daughter. She and I both volunteer and donate at a local day program for homeless women and children. She knows that we are all one human family, and that no human being can ever be more or less valuable than another - whether they are drug addicted, mentally ill, homeless, or all of the above. Every human being is precious, and every human being deserves to feel welcome and at home in their community.
Thank You again, Rachel.
I can't wait to see your film,a nd I intend to purchase it as well.
We live in a world trapped inside an economic system where one needs to pursue the acquistion of money in order to gain food, light, heat, water, clothing, and shelter. These are basic human needs. The fear of not having these things is the reason human nature has become so greedy. We are naturally altrustic and cooperative. Human nature doesn't create capitalism. Capitalism warps human nature.
Am I the only one who sees something terribly wrong with that concept?
Barring serious anti-social or criminal behaviour, the word "eviction" shouldn't even be in our vocabulary.
Rachel, you are not alone. In fact you are in very great company, and not the first to take the time to look and realize that being homeless is the result of many different circumstances.
And that being homeless does not make you less of a person...
Please take a look at a wonderful group, North Beach Citizens, www.northb
For those of us who live in this neighborhood in San Francisco the change has been stunning.
For a while one restaurant held monthly dinners with both homeless and resident neighbors sitting down together and eating and talking.
Neighborhood merchants employ clients for street sweeping as well putting up holiday decorations.
And many just plain neighbors, like myself have had their dogs walked, houses painted, garages cleaned and small moves facilitated by this incredible group. We are all the richer for it!
There have been many successes.
Bravo to you for taking this on and for putting a very human face on our fellow citizens.
One small step...
She is not encouraging others to do the same as she did, but merely encouraging others to open their minds and hearts to the other side. There is no doubt that not all homeless are as nice as the ones rachel encountered, but that doesnt mean that they are all vicious either. She is in no way asking others to wonder skid row, but just to remember that when you see that man on the corner begging for change, that he is exactly that, a man. just as much of a human being as anyone else. Rachel's message is daring and one that is not often spoken, and for that she deserves every praise in the world.
Great job, Rachel!!!!
You're doing important work to raise awareness and getting voices heard. Please keep it up!
See Rachel Fleischer's Profile
Thanks Christine, so are you!!!
"How would I treat them if they were a long lost friend or a neighbor in need?" That is how I have come to see homeless people.
We should all think this way, good work.
It's not really a matter of treating them as if they were...
That is PRECISELY what and who they are!
It really is that simple.
great article - and the trailer looks wonderful.
thank you for caring
Wow, what an incredible person you are for making this film Not too many people would have the guts to do what you did by making this and opening the eyes of people all over the country. I can't wait to see the movie now. You should be very proud of yourself.
Written from the heart, and it has touched mine. Our family was talking on a similar theme this morning. Your work with the homeless illustrates better than anything I could say ... what I meant to say to them. Of course, I'm sharing it with them and others.
Thanks!
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