Skid Row

'Skid Row' felt like the best sort of wake up call. The film managed to make me aware of an issue that usually goes undiscussed, even in an election year where every other 'important' issue is breathlessly analyzed. Because Pras Michel enters this incredible situation not as a chest-beating activist but as a 'normal' person no more aware of the true face of homelessness than I, it gave me the permission to be moved by what I saw without feeling guilty for a life of doing very little about the problem.

Pras' nine-day journey on Skid Row was life-changing, and through the power of this documentary, we get to feel that impact on our own lives. Rich, poor or middle class, the homelessness problem affects us all, more than we see going about our day to day lives. In one of the best interviews in the film, a poverty activist declares, "solve homelessness in LA and transform the city." But if we could actively take on poverty we'd do much more than that -- we'd transform the world.

See this film as soon as you can. Then show it to as many people as you can. And maybe we'll be one step closer to that transformation we so desperately need.

There have been activist screenings (thanks to Brave New Theaters!) and the DVD is now available from IndiePix at http://www.indiepixfilms.com/films/3397