It's short, about 40 minutes. Take out all the lumbering drone footage with pensive backing music and it knocks down to less than 30 minutes. We don't get to know any of the subjects, noting in depth to explain how they live day to day or how they ended up in this situation. I think there's a fear on the part of the filmmakers to show that drugs, alcohol and mental illness is a large part of it. They don't want the audience to lose sympathy for the subjects. A good filmmaker would allow the audience to draw their own opinions. I feel for these people, but I want to know more. That's what documentaries are for. Tell me how they handle disputes in the camp, how they decide who gets to panhandle certain corners, what do they do to get by that the audience would say "wow, I never knew that". Interview the advocates, politicians, citizens, cops, business owners etc. This isn't a documentary, it's a high school-grade visual art project.
Review of Lead Me Home
