Shelter

Filmed in Seattle, WA, Shelter is a harrowing documentary about the plight of the "homeless": those two million people nationwide who, for one reason or another, have no place to return to at the end of the day. Mixing interview footage of the unfortunates (such as Eddie, a middle-aged schizophrenic who watched his father murder his mother at age seven and has been in and out of mental institutions 21 times) with the policymakers at all levels (from former Seattle mayor Charles Royer to the Reagan administration's Margaret Heckler, Secretary of Health and Human Services), the filmmakers try to get at the questions of cause, responsibility, and possible solutions. Contrary to popular thinking, the shelters are not habited mainly by alcoholics; it is estimated that as much as 40% of the homeless are suffering from some form of mental illness (from 1950-1960, when the wonder drugs were being tested and produced, tens of thousands were released from institutions--with nowhere to go). Two other major categories of the homeless are single mothers who are victims of domestic violence and the "new poor", families who struggle in vain to find employment in a sluggish economy that has the additional backlash of major cuts in governmental social welfare programs. While the number of "homeless" increases at a near exponential rate, Reagan officials seem to be quite out of touch with both the magnitude and the nature of the problem. A disturbing, provocative film which is unfortunately highly priced. Still, we highly recommend this for academic and larger public libraries. (Available from: Filmmakers Library, 133 E. 58th St., New York, NY 10022).