This is a short film on YouTube that has gotten some attention.
It's interesting mainly because the film seems not to have a point of view. The positions of each of the three men in the film seem foolish. We are left with no direct message.
So, what does the mini-movie do? Nothing much in and of itself, but it opens up a possibility for us to consider what really goes on in the world.
The view of each man in the film has some validity as well as being substantially flawed. And, each man is somewhat representative of many in the real world.
The homeless hater's position is well stated, and includes the usual gross simplifications and harrowing narrow-mindedness. And the liberal-but-ignorant position is well represented.
The homeless man in the film is a tabula rasa onto whom stereotypes, good and bad, can be projected. Certainly, there are some homeless men in Sacramento who are clean, contented and aimless -- which seems to be the disposition of the homeless fellow, if he was meant to have any qualities at all. In real life, homeless people are greatly varied with unmistakably distinct personalities.
One thing that is common, but not in the way depicted in the film, is the homeless man taking on an opinion of himself as expressed by unknowing others. Sadly, homeless people read and start to believe the bathetic crap about themselves in Loaves & Fishes' donations-grab newsletters. Or, we marginalize ourselves as a result from 'established' citizens' cruel looks when we're out in the world.
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