May 2, 2009: Invisible City
I saw Invisible City (preceded by the short film Code of Silence) as part of the Hot Docs documentary film festival. It chronicles 3 years in the lives of two boys in the Regent Park public housing development near downtown Toronto. Both are being raised by their single mothers, struggling to get ahead in a world which purports to provide opportunity for everyone, but finding those opportunities lacking. The constant struggle leads to repeated disappointments and destructive behaviour, continuing the vicious cycle of defeat.
It’s clear that the boys are no angels, turning to drug-related crime as a way of escaping their struggles in school and to make a bit of money to get ahead. However, it’s obvious that these boys have an appetite for a normal and successful life, and that circumstances are largely responsible for their delinquency. Role models and structure are important in the lives of children, regardless of race or income, and when those are missing, trouble follows. One teacher tries to take the kids under his wing, providing the important role model of someone who grew up in the neighbourhood and made something of himself, but he struggles against the barrage of other influences and isn’t ultimately able to bring the boys out of their troubles.
The community aspect of public housing is often ignored, among municipal discussions of the cost of maintaining or rebuilding public housing as if this were merely a faceless public service. There are lots of people living in relatively close quarters, and who you associate with has a lot to do with how you turn out. In the Q&A session after the film, the mothers of the two boys had the most poignant and powerful things to say, women who have lived difficult lives and are wise beyond their years and understand what their boys need, even if they can’t deliver it singlehandedly.
Invisible City is a discomforting look into a part of city life that is all too easy to ignore most of the time. Unfortunately I didn’t find it to be as engaging as I had hoped, maybe partly because of the focus on two particular examples rather than the community in general, and partly because of how easily the boys seemed to slide back into criminal behaviour despite the best efforts of their mothers and their communities. I felt like they didn’t really want what they professed to want, and weren’t prepared to work for their results. Surely I’m missing the greater picture of how difficult it is to rise above such hardship, but all I can do is tell it how I see it.
Solid potential but didn’t move me.
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