Review - Homeless: The Motel Kids of Orange County

Here in the UK, our view of what Orange County in California is like is undoubtedly coloured by The OC and the pretty images of Disneyland.

But the truth for around 10% of OC’s residents is a far cry from the glamour and wealth portrayed in the soap.

As filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi’s documentary ably demonstrated, life for those 10% is bleak. No super-white teeth and sports cars for these kids; they’re lucky if they get a bed that’s not infested with bugs.

The people Pelosi focused on were the people who – despite in the main being employed, and working mad long hours – couldn’t afford to rent property in Orange County, so they and their families live in motels.

The rent for the motels is around $800-900 dollars per month, and for that kind of money, families share one dingy bug infested room, one microwave – if they’re fortunate – and a bathroom so miniscule that should anyone call for cat swinging, it would be vetoed in there.

Pelosi interviewed and observed a lot of people for this film, which while being necessary to offer up a subjective portrait of the scale of the problem, did make it hard to get to know anyone too well. But that said, though faces changed, the stories mostly did not.

Small kids, contained and bored witless, hard working, tired and sometimes defeated parents and the only people happy about the arrangements are the motel owners. And even they are miserable.

Not everyone was miserable though, and as ever when watching films about what people can endure, one has to marvel at how humanity can adapt to, and become good at, adversity.

Granted there are far worse plights and fates than living in motels, but it’s not the best, and it’s a problem that’s swept under many governmental carpets. It doesn’t do any harm to beat those problems out from under their rugs sometimes to let them see the light of day.

And as I said, adversity does tend to appeal to that essence of humanity that’s usually only called upon in wartime or similar. As one lady proudly stated, “We know how to bathe in eight ounces of water. We know how to do pooh-pooh in a bag.”

But the saddest commentaries come from the children involved who express their desire to have a home of their own, or act out by annoying the neighbours because they have little else to do.

There were lots of little kids with big plans and frankly, little hope of them coming to fruition. The American dream is attainable, yes, but it costs to get it, and unless you have money – and these families don’t – then a dream is all it's likely to be.

Some of the kids – arguably, the smarter ones – realized this stark fact early on and have instead turned to crime at their tender young ages. Eleven-year-old Zack, who’s on probation for robbery, said, “Some of us kids want what other people have, so we just take it.

“Sometimes I do it for attention. My mom's too busy.”

And though spoken without a trace of self-pity, pity is what I feel for Zack. And for nine-year-old Dylan who was asked what he would ask for if granted one wish. He replied, “To redo my life.”

Eight-year-old Cassidy wants to be a cheerleader, and she’s inordinately proud of her blonde hair, but she had to get her head shaved to get rid of lice.

And Kiera, aged nine, wants to be a doctor when she grows up. She lives with her mum and shares a motel room with another family who have a brand new baby. Kiera’s scared of the violence she witnesses and hears day in, day out, but her mum props her up with a defiant, “Never give up”.

Maybe that attitude will indeed end up taking Kiera all the way to medical school, but somehow, I don’t see it.

So what was the point of this film? Well, arguably to shock and to demonstrate that in the midst of often garish displays of America’s wealth, a sub-class lives in the shadows.

A group of disparate, desperate, but trying-to-do-right people who are largely ignored. They exist in the gaps in America’s welfare net and their ranks are growing daily.

So will anyone rally to help these folks out? Maybe they will if films like this one highlight their situation often enough.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a clip from the film…

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It’s moving, depressing watching, but necessary watching I think, and handled sensitively – if somewhat hurriedly – by Pelosi.

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