BEFORE: In last night's film, Samuel L. Jackson played a former soul star who was living in a rundown apartment, and in tonight's film, a former music student is living on the streets. With the recent news of a homeless man with a radio-friendly voice becoming a YouTube sensation, and then finding employment, I can't help but call this a timely choice.
THE PLOT: A Los Angeles journalist befriends a homeless Julliard-trained musician, while looking for a new article for the paper.
AFTER: Robert Downey Jr. (last seen in "Iron Man") plays a journalist who tries to get a homeless man off the streets - but he's also writing a human interest story for the L.A. Times, so how altruistic are his motives? I was never sure whether things were being done solely for the sake of his articles or not.
So...the homeless people who aren't musical prodigies aren't worthy of media attention? Or financial help? Sorry, the cynic in me is looking for problems with the plot. How convenient that the semi-coherent homeless man spells his name for the reporter during their first encounter, and also happens to mention that he went to Julliard - so the reporter can easily check his story...
The reporter finds out that helping the musician is not easy - which I believe, because I don't think there would be simple ways to fix a "broken" person, or simple answers to the homeless problem in general. My dad used to say the main problem is distribution - our country has money and food, it just doesn't get distributed to the people who need it the most.
And a lot of people might want to help a homeless person, but not enough to let them live with them - so that rings true. And some people are like black holes - absorbing massive amounts of help and charity, without ever getting into an improved situation. My parents have a couple of stray people that they help, but I found I'm just not cut out for it. I tried to volunteer for City Harvest, but it didn't go well - so now I just send them a check when I can, sometimes after a particularly good meal, to ease my conscience.
There's a movement now to get some of the richest Americans to agree to donate a portion of their earnings to charity. The cynic in me believes that someone probably showed these people that the resulting tax deductions would make it worth their while. Anyway, what kind of a country do we live in, where people have to be SHOWN how to help the less fortunate? Why can't it just be part of our routine? And instead of our religions dictating charity, why can't people just do it because it needs to happen?
Which brings me back to Ted Williams, and further cycnicism on the subject. What about all the homeless people who aren't blessed with great-sounding voices? I know he's gotten job offers, already his voice is in a macaroni and cheese commercial, and a radio station in Cleveland has offered him a position, complete with mortgage payments. While I'm all for improving someone's situation, remember what happened when Oprah gave away those cars to underprivileged women? They all had to pay the taxes on the gifts - which some of them couldn't afford to do. Same problem with "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" - where the increased property taxes on the rebuilt homes forced some families to sell the homes that the TV show had built for them. SO while one set of problems is over for Mr. Williams, I have a feeling that another set of problems is just beginning.
Again, there are no simple answers - which, in the end, this film tries to point out. There's always another side to an issue - evidenced by the constant stream of newspaper staffers that were being fired in the background, while Downey's character is filing his successful columns. (and somewhere, a voice-over announcer is bringing home less money this week because he lost out on a macaroni and cheese commercial...)
But I don't require that a movie supply all the answers, as long as the questions being raised are interesting enough.
Also starring Jamie Foxx (last seen in "Miami Vice"), Catherine Keener (last seen in "Capote"), cameos from Rachael Harris (last seen in "The Hangover"), Stephen Root (last seen in "The Men Who Stare at Goats") and Jena Malone.
RATING: 6 out of 10 shopping carts.
Ted Williams already got into a shouting argument with his daughter in LA for which police were called to calm things down. The daughter is claiming he's drinking again already; he claims he's not. It is very complicated with substance abuse in the picture. No amount of money and free mortgages can help a person with that struggle. Even worse is when there is serious mental illness. I've read so many articles about people who still had family trying to get them help and couldn't. The health system is just not set up to identify and treat mental illness in its early stages or in the long term. Charity can only go so far when you don't have the underlying structures to help people with their deeper emotional and psychological problems. As you said, no simple answers.
ReplyDeleteThe real hero in the Williams story is the ex-wife. She took care of all his kids, and even a child that he fathered with another woman. Where's Oprah to help THAT woman? I just piped in because I can't stand Oprah. She's an egotistical, self-aggrandizing megalomaniac. Nothing to do with the movie...
ReplyDeleteThe experiences I've had in trying to be a charitable person have yielded mixed results. I've occasionally had food left over from a film shoot or other event, and given sandwiches away to (presumably) hungry street people. When presented with an array of deli-meat sandwiches, some were noted to say, "What, no tuna fish?" That statement about "beggars can't be choosers"? Not true.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, I was buying two bagels for myself on the way to work, and giving one to a homeless man who was usually in the same spot each day. But during the Passover season, he refused my gift of (leavened) bread product, and that sort of ended our arrangement. I saw him just the other day on 3rd Ave., so I know he's still alive, but I maintain that he should have taken my contribution even if his religion kept him from eating it that week.
I also made the mistake a couple years ago, by inviting a friend and his girlfriend to live in our basement spare room after they lost an apartment - but as time wore on, we saw no evidence that they were even looking for a new apartment or a way to leave our basement.
The situation put a strain on our friendship, and I learned that my charity has limits - which is why I prefer to donate money rather than food, my time, or parts of my house.
So, Ted Williams is going into rehab. He's been drinking since this whole thing blew up, and I wouldn't be surprised if the 2 years sober claim was untrue, as well. People with addictions like that are not always honest, with themselves or others.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely in agreement with Shell -- about the ex-wife being very commendable *and* about Oprah being a narcissistic windbag. Every show, regardless of the guest, is really all about her, of course.