GIMME SHELTER (LEAD ME HOME)

At the end of the Oscar nominated documentary short 'Lead Me Home,' comes a sobering caption.

It reads: "On any given night, over half a million Americans experience homelessness."

That will shock some people. It might not shock others.

But it's half a million people too many.

The emotion that sentence should stir in all who read it is shame.

In a country as prominent and proud as the United States, it should also be disturbing to read another caption at the start of the film which says in the past five years Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle have declared states of emergency around the scale of homelessness.

Renting in all three cities has become unaffordable for big chunks of society and it isn't unique to the United States.

Whether it is Canada, Australia, Argentina, Zimbabwe, India or France, the sight of people sleeping rough isn't uncommon and it isn't good enough.

No-one should be forced to live on the streets.

But Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk's 'Lead Me Home' isn't just motivated by shame.

It's a call to action and makes that call by letting those who have fallen into homelessness in LA, San Francisco and Seattle speak.

As they capture footage of them undergoing assessments of their vulnerability, what emerges is a thoughtful meditation on how people can easily fall into this situation and how they try to get by.

Many of those living on the streets are victims of unemployment, debt, spiralling rents and property prices that make living in housing unaffordable, addiction, mental health problems, a cycle of offending and broken families.

Often it is a combination of these factors that forces them on the streets.

In one assessment, one of those interviewed reveals he came out as transgender during his senior year at college but lost all family support.

Interspersed with these heartbreaking stories and scenes of broken people trying to access charitable support, are contrasting scenes of how the better off live.

As one man emerges from his tent under an underpass to brush his teeth at dawn, other city dwellers rise in their apartments and head for their bathrooms.

While they have the luxury of their own showers, he has to go to a communal shower for the destitute.

Another tearful interviewee talks about having to go into a very basic shelter with her kids, sleeping on mattresses and then taking them to Safeway each morning so they can use the supermarket bathroom before school to get washed.

Scenes of city dwellers deliberating in food markets over which fresh fruit and vegetables to buy are contrasted with images of the homeless queuing up for a free hot meal.

One woman admits: "There were a couple of times when I thought my stomach was going to touch my back - I was hungry, had no food, I did not know where to get food from."

Another young girl on the streets phones her mum to tell her she's pregnant and is told to take care of herself and "try and get into housing as fast as possible."

Others living rough are left fearing for their lives or experiencing beatings ot rape.

While protesters chant people are dying in front yards, efforts by the local authorities to build a shelter in one neighbourhood are met with fierce opposition at a public meeting by some city dwellers who fear it will bring crime to their district, drug problems, devalue property and diminish any desire to live there. 

While Kos and Shenk's film is fuelled by anger over the images they captured inall three cities over four years, 'Lead Me Home' is also technically superb.

Shenk's cinematography is delivered with great panache, capturing gorgeous images of the cities at sunset, sunrise and at night.

Drone shots and time lapse imagery impressively document the bustle of Seattle, LA and San Francisco's streets and the scale of homelessness on bridges, in underpasses, on city streets, waste ground and suburban neighbourhoods.

Kos and Don Vernier's savvy editing is complemented by a breathtaking Hans Zimmer style musical score by Gil Talmi.

And because the style complements the substance, it only augments their short film's sense of tragedy.

While very few of the interviewees are mentioned by name, the credits reveal they are Luis Rivera Miranda, Tiffany Brownlee, Zia Martins, Resheemah White, Ravelle Mestaz, Roman Friday, Patricia Wilcox, Flora Lyles, Ronnie 'Futuristic Astaire,' Willis, Squiddy Jamzzz, Gigi Farmer, Stacy Rice, Raymond Thomas, Carol Voss and Wayne Barker.

All of them dream of having a roof over their heads that cannot be taken away from them.

In one case, one man just wants an RV or a van.

None of them, though, have choosen to live like they do.

They need our compassion and they need intervention.

Kos and Shenk do their subjects a great service by giving them a voice but they don't just stop there.

Motivated by a desire to understand the causes of homelessness and spur viewers into action, 'Lead Me Home' has its own website with details of how to access homeless support services or volunteer for the organisations that feature in the Netflix documentary.

Like all great documentary shorts, the film manages to say more visually in 39 minutes than acres of print.

Its ability to convey the experiences of those living on the streets and their embarrassment and despair about the situation they find themselves in also shines a light on the failure of some TV news channels to properly reflect their society and face up to issues of poverty.

With the cost of living spiralling after two years of COVID lockdowns and as oil prices rise while Vladimir Putin's Russian troops brutalise Ukraine, the film should fill us with a sense of dread about the scale of the crisis to come.

It's not enough, though, to watch this outstanding documentary and then wring our hands.

Action is required.

Every country should be measured by the yardstick of how it treats its most vulnerable, including the homeless.

Individual intervention and acts of kindness go a long way but ultimately central and local government must alleviate and address the problem.

By all means do what you can to support the homeless but the next time you go to the ballot box, make it clear to those seeking your vote that you regard the need to address homelessness as a priority.

The more people do that, the greater the resolve will be to find solutions to a worsening situation in cities like Detroit, Dundee, Durban, Delhi and Damascus. 

'Lead Me Home' is a wake up call not just for the US but elsewhere.

The scale of homelessness is getting worse but are ready to rise from our slumber?

('Lead Me Home' was made available for streaming on Netflix on November 30, 2021)