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Family Life (1971)
R D Laing / Ken Loach heartbreak Film
I first saw this on TV in the mid 70s. Yes TV was a very different proposition back then. As a study of generational alienation it is a masterpiece. Sandy is a 70s teenager of 1950s working class parents. They are completely unable to help or understand her rebellion. Once she is carrying an illegitimate child she becomes a problem. All of the brutal tools of 70s social control are here. The church, the normal person and finally psychiatric services / electrotherapy.
Even as a teenager I felt horrified at how society could demonise a young woman. This film sums up the bleak fag end of the hippie movement and how little attitudes had changed.
No one would or could make a film like this in 2023. But it planted seeds of tolerance in some. Unfortunately society has changed, the empathy this film engendered has withered under the fight to find enough to eat. Sad but essential viewing to view the social care movement crushed.
Hobo (1992)
Stunning documentary of modern Hobo trainriders
Very sad that there's no other reviews / board action on this film as I suspect it means this excellent film just never gets seen. John T Davis travels with modern day hobo trainrider Beargrease as he hops highlines to the Rockies and back home. The camera work is amazing as we see the American countryside dusk to dawn from the trains Beargrease rides. The man is a Vietnam vet who,although having a pig farm cannot feel comfortable unless he heads off riding trains.Travelling with Beargrease we meet his friends and hear bits of his philosophy. There's a hobo code - you don't ask a man about his background, you don't ask if he's on the run but you do watch each others backs.
As the film unfolds I was struck by two things. Firstly John T Davis is illuminating a subculture that really is out of the mainstream. Did you know that Hobo trainriders still existed, helped each other, left cryptic signs, had an unwritten code? Nope me neither. Secondly the film has a grinding authenticity- riding the rockies at dawn you can feel the cold. Talking around the evening fireside sorrow and desperation compete with fierce independence. See it if you can but with no DVD or general release thats very difficult.