Home less home

For Home Less Home, Bill Brand went in search of locations in New York where many homeless people congregate. He asked them to say who they were and how they became homeless. This cruel pun on Home Sweet Home provides the viewer with an insight into the various forms of homeless life: the cheap hotels for those on welfare, the shelters (cardboard boxes, corrugated sheeting and anything else which could serve as roofing material) and the camps where some gather with their shelters. It becomes apparent that, whatever many Americans may believe, the group of homeless people does not just consist of drug addicts, the insane and good-for-nothings. A combination of economic forces, speculation with houses and thoughtless social policy makes sure that even people who have worked for some time can suddenly become homeless.The documentary shots are juxtaposed with statistics (for instance, the number of homeless people in the major US cities), social photography from the past, TV reports and titles. The line of Home Less Home is formed by Brand's own voice-over, carrying the viewer along as his thoughts develop on the subject of homelessness during the shooting. Brand: `All too often the accusing finger is pointed at the homeless themselves and not at the system which causes it. Even the homeless people think of the homeless as other.'îVariety: `Bill Brand's documentary (...) will blow the whistle on the underside of President Bush's kinder and gentler America.' And Janet Maslin, New York Times, observed: `The homeless people interviewed in the film are exceptionally calm, articulate and intelligent by any standard.'