Homeless: Film Analysis

Film review

“Nobody wants to be homeless, it doesn’t even come across their minds in five years from now I would like to be Homeless” (Inocente). Inocente is a short documentary film about a 15 year aspiring artist who is homeless. She resides with her Mother and three brothers in San Diego, California. Inocente attends school and her class mates are unaware that she is homeless. She will not tell classmates that she is homeless because the fear of mockery and shame. Inocente has been homeless most of her life and nothing ever feels stable enough to call home. Inocente’s mother had her at a very early age almost at the age Inocente’s is fifteen. Inocente’s mom never knew the United States existed but when she did come into the U.S
she imagined it as being Clean and without dirt. The whole family is illegal and came to the United States to have a better opportunity but, Inocente and her mother never thought they would struggle. Inocente’s mother still, till this day wishes for a place to call home for her and her children. But, what she imagined is not so, the family has lived in multiple homes and has also lived in a park.
A 2009 study from the National Center on Family Homelessness reported that “1.5 million children become homeless every year in the U.S.”(Gibson).
Even though Inocente and her family are displaced she keep moving forward. Inocente has a love for painting, she paints on her face and does paintings to express her stories and feelings. Expressing herself through her painting, allows her to turn around the gloomy start in her mornings. She likes to paint her paintings in bright, abstract colors and shapes. Many of her pictures tell stories and are an outlet to put her struggles in paint. . For nine years Inocente and her family have not lived for more than three months at a time in one place. Inocente takes blame for her family being homeless as her fault. Before they were homeless they were in a home with an abusive father. The father subjected physical harm to his children by whipping them with a vacuum cord or other abusive methods. Inocente with a heavy heart and guilt blames herself for disobeying and not communicating. On one particular night Inocente’s father asked her to tell the mother to give him dinner, Inocente spaced it out. So the father gets very angry and started to beat Inocente, her mother got in the way and called the cops. The father broke the cell phone on the moms head. The police arrested and deported the father to Mexico but, Inocente, her three brothers and mother fled. Inocente is reassured by others that being homeless was not her fault. Because if she
would have just told her mom what her father needed they wouldn’t be homeless. Inocente has contemplated suicide on various occasions. Her mother has considered many time to commit suicides and one day when Inocente was 11 years old she took her to a bridge. She and innocents were to jump off into the sea but, Inocente begged her not to. The mom has an estranged relationship with Inocente because of the devastating events that shattered their mother daughter bond. Inocente paints and names her painting “The Lost Planet” It is where the lost dreams reside. She paints this painting because of all the lost things that she can never get back. Inocente has been attending A.R.T.S or “A Reason To Survive” for 3 years, it is a place where homeless children or children living in group homes may be able to express themselves through art.
The Founder/CEO Matt D’Arrigo and Ron Tobin Creative Director have five thousand kids who attend A.R.T.S. only two will be awarded their own show, Inocente is one of the two who is picked to showcase her work as an artist. She is given three months to make thirty pieces of art that will be viewed by 200 guests. As she works on her art pieces they all have a story line to go by. But, all have paintings are colorful and have life in them. Inocente prepares her gallery and is excited about the viewing. Inocente’s paintings do well and all are sold except for one she has kept for herself her mother and siblings attend the event. Her mother expresses that her daughter is talented but is very distant. Innocent raises twelve thousand dollar for the A.R.T.S school and her tuition. She could not have dreamt an outpouring of support from her community and the outcome of her paintings being sold. As the night closes her mother and she have an altercation where there is abuse and Innocent decides that she will not allow her mother to do that. Inocente finds a school called “Toussaint Academy” this is a school where homeless teens are allowed to study arts. Her mother refuses to give her permission and ultimately with Matt and his lawyers help convince her. They explain to her that it will
help Inocente and that the stress between them two is not good. And finally the mother gives her blessings to Inocente to go ahead and achieve her goals. Soon after Inocente moves back in but, the relationship in this documentary shows a mother who is not affectionate and a daughter who has rebelled. Inocente moves back out and seeks a place where she will have a stable life.
This film is very powerful and sends a message to our communities who may not have resources for homeless people. People are stuggling on a daily basis and there is many who are unaware of the devestaing consequesnces being homeless does to peoples physologial, physical and spiritual well being. It is sad to know that One in forty-five children are homeless”(Inocente) , Children are the innocent who cannot fight back their cirumstances and this film showed that one girl is still fighting.
Works Cited
Gibson, Dan. "Illegal Immigration Contributing to Homeless Crisis?" Examiner.com. Examiner.com, 06 Jan. 2010. Web. 8 Nov. 2013.
Fine, Sean, and Andrea Nix-Fine. "Inocente." Mtv.com. N.p., 02 Feb. 2013. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.
Bassuk, EL et al. (1996). The characteristics and needs of sheltered homeless and low-income housed mothers. Journal of the American Medical Association, 276(8): 640-646.