Dark Days

I hate to put the gloom on after that last cheery post but I wanted to write a bit about this documentary I recently saw, "Dark Days."  It is the story of a group of homeless people who find shelter in an abandoned railroad tunnel in New York city.  You meet several characters who have built their own huts out of scraps of wood and whatever else they can find and you learn about how they survive.  They steal electricity from Amtrak lines and so they have a few lights plugged in here and there and they can cook on stove tops.  At one point one of the characters reveals that probably 90% of the inhabitants are addicted to crack.  They battle the rats that they share the tunnel with and they scavenge for food in trash cans.  This is a tough world.  But it seems even tougher when authorities come in to tell these people, some of which have been living there for 20 years, they must vacate the tunnel.  Could these days get any darker?  I won't spoil the ending.

This film is extraordinary because it exposes these extremely poor living conditions and how humanity still hangs on.  There is still a sense of community in this place.  It is shot on film, which is also amazing, because it is literally so dark down there that it seems it would be very difficult to get a proper exposure.  The director, Mark Singer, spent two years in out of these tunnels to make this documentary and so you really immersed in this world.  There is no narration which I think is beneficial for the feeling of actually being there instead of just looking in.  I highly recommend it so check it out.  You can watch instantly on netflix.