Indy Film Fest: Under the Bridge: The Criminalization of Homelessness
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"In reality, some of it's play 'Hide the Homeless.' We all know that."
That is a quote from Sgt. Robert Hipple of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's homeless / mental health unit. Like many cities in the United States, Indianapolis is poorly equipped to deal with the growing numbers of homeless people on its streets.
Too often, police officers like Hipple are thrust into the position of "dealing" with the homeless in lieu of proper social services, such as mental health and drug addiction treatment programs. With most Indianapolis shelters and missions running at or beyond capacity, that can mean IMPD simply shuffling homeless individuals around from one location to another — sometimes at the whim of an aloof public and apathetic local business interests.
For many Indianapolis residents (such as myself), homelessness is an "out of sight, out of mind" issue. We avoid eye contact with panhandlers downtown or on highway off-ramps. At best, we either quickly forget about them as we go about our lives. At worst, we make up theories or stories about them in our minds to rationalize why they aren't deserving of our time or attention. For most of us, the plight of the homeless is a temporary and awkward inconvenience, somebody else's problem. Out of sight, out mind.
"Under the Bridge: The Criminalization of Homelessness," a participatory documentary directed by Don Sawyer, is a film about the Davidson Street homeless camp in downtown Indianapolis. Located under a bridge at the intersection of South Davidson and East Maryland streets — walking distance from both the Marion County Jail and the Liberty Hall work release facility — at the start of the film, the camp has existed for more than 20 years and is shelter for more than 60 homeless individuals.
The de facto "mayor" of the camp is a man named Maurice, who "dropped out" of so-called normal life a few years prior and, in that time, has helped turn the Davidson Street camp into an organized community that works with local outreach groups to ensure that the homeless can get two meals a day, safety and shelter. The filmmakers speak with Maurice and a number of other people at the camp and explore some of the issues that drive people into this condition, including mental health issues, drug addiction and post-incarceration ostracism that sends many former inmates into a cycle of poverty and recidivism.
These realities come out in interviews with camp members and the various outreach and church groups that provide aid to them. Maurice has arranged a schedule, marked out on a whiteboard, so that all these various organizations come in, provide food and other necessities and speak to the campers. The common theme, repeated often, is helping those less fortunate. It's a value that most major religions hold up as a virtue, but it is refreshing to see people who actually put those values into action.
The film puts this "boots on the ground" approach in stark contrast with Wheeler Mission, perhaps the most well-known homeless shelter in Indianapolis. Like all of the city's missions, Wheeler is a privately owned, faith-based ministry. The mission is also the cornerstone of a handful of cottage industries, such as a retail thrift store that sells donated goods a la Goodwill, another retail business that sells handcrafted goods made by residents, and another business that sells custom hardwood pallets and stock (produced by residents) for distribution companies.
When asked about Wheeler, one camper states that he'd rather go to jail. When asked to describe what it is like there, another camper simply says "work release."
The film shows Steve Kerr, the mission's Chief Development Officer, speaking with local news outlets about the "dangers" posed by the Davidson Street camp, even going so far as to describe the outreach groups working there are misguided "do-gooders." Kerr comes across as a businessman attempting to undermine and discredit a competitor, and in a way, the camp is a competitor; Wheeler Mission's retail business relies on the homeless to act as a labor force, ostensibly in exchange for services and support they need.
It's a narrative repeated often by local media; allegations of disease and criminal activity (drugs, theft, etc.) at the camp that are not substantiated by the experiences of the campers, the outreach groups that work with them or the filmmakers themselves. The film depicts an organized, peaceful and supportive community that borders on family.
As local businesses continue to use the media to create a tide of public opposition against the camp, city government and the police step in to threaten and harass the homeless of Davidson Street. As a deadline is set for the campers to clear out or be arrested for felony trespassing, the filmmakers are on hand to witness the final confrontation.
One of my greatest pet peeves in documentary films is when filmmakers inject too much of themselves into their film. When I think of documentary, I tend to idealize the more traditional, observational style of filmmaking where there is a minimal amount of intrusion. In this form, it is expected that the filmmaker will present a clear-enough picture of events that the viewer can infer or construct "the story" on their own.
"Under the Bridge" is not that kind of film. The filmmakers are definitely present and, in fact, become active participants by the end of a film most accurately classified as a participatory documentary (a form that blurs the line between observational filmmaking and journalism). Normally I tend to cringe whenever I see a documentary's director onscreen; more often than not it is a decision driven by either vanity or a desire to railroad the narrative in a direction more to the director's liking. That approach borders on "reality" television, a biased, scripted version of events that can mislead viewers when presented as truth.
Director Don Sawyer and his crew take more of an investigative-journalism tack with this film, asking some tough questions and confronting some of the subjects about their motives and involvement. At one point, Sawyer takes a local newscaster to task for not knowing a real estate developer was a driving force in the effort to close down the Davidson Street camp.
It's an approach that may skew too much towards agit-prop for documentary purists, and that's a fair assessment. Still, Sawyer and crew manage to participate in the unfolding story without making themselves the center of it. The focus is clearly on Maurice and the other homeless people of Davidson Street, the government and business interests that want them scattered, and the police officers, social workers and humanitarian groups caught in between. Sawyer asks the right questions, the hard questions that most of us are afraid to ask because the answers will make us squirm uncomfortably in our seats.
"Under the Bridge: The Criminalization of Homelessness" is playing as part of this year's Indy Film Fest and is, appropriately, competing in the Hoosier Lens Feature category rather than the Documentary Feature category. "Under the Bridge" is an informative, sympathetic look at the homeless problem in Indianapolis and an eye-opener for all audiences, not just Indy residents.
3.5 Yaps
2016 Indy Film Fest Showtimes: 9:15 p.m., Tuesday, July 19, The Toby - Click here for tickets 5 p.m., Saturday, July 23, The Toby - Click here for tickets
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D3Qs29vAUw&w=585