The Soloist

Linda and I attended a screening of The Soloist tonight - new film about a reporter that writes a story about a homeless man, befriends him, and ultimately struggles with his relationship to the homeless man/his ex-wife/etc. Stop reading if you like to see the movie before knowing the ending.

A couple of things I am sure of and a couple of things I am not. I am sure this movie accurately represents the difficulty many people face when engaging with the homeless. First, there is the frustration of getting plugged in to the "system". Seems like it would be easy - just volunteer/show up/be there - but it rarely is, at least on anything more than a one-time basis. Second, the issue of homelessness is often intertwined with other complicated problems like mental illness (see comments below). Third, once you get involved, you find that it is not necessarily a problem that wants a solution, or at least that wants a solution that you want (if this doesn't make sense, go see the movie). It is this last issue that I think discourages most volunteers - volunteers want solutions/fixes that make them feel good whereas most issues like this are in want of relationships (hey, could it be that liberals and conservatives can find something in common here??).

I am not sure this movie appropriately represents the homeless population at large. It focuses a lot on mental illness. This is certainly one issue closely tied to some homeless persons. It does not address many other correlated issues (e.g. substance abuse, domestic violence, etc.). And it does not reflect "economic" homelessness (i.e. homeless issues caused primarily by households that cannot afford a subsistence level of housing). This is the part that concerns me about a movie intended for the general public - does it create a perception that all homelessness is untreated mental illness?

Overall, the movie is well written, has some some great music (if you like classical cello), etc. It is great to see a full length pop movie intended for a general audience that addresses homelessness and won't be in the documentary category. But, homeless advocates will have to guard carefully against reviews that simply conclude homelessness and mental illness are one and the same.