10.15.03
Rep Picks
By Cheryl Eddy
Bums' Paradise Tomas McCabe and Andrei Rozen's timely doc about the homeless encampment formerly located at the Albany Landfill has played around the Bay Area for the past few months, but if you haven't caught it yet, get to the Red Vic Thurs/16 – it's a must-see. Bums' Paradise is thoughtfully directed, featuring an inventive score performed with found objects left at the landfill and the active participation of its subjects (notably Robert "Rabbit" Barringer, a UC Berkeley grad who provides the film's poetic narration and also helped gather footage and interviews with his fellow residents). The film illuminates how the landfill truly was a paradise – the inhabitants, thrilled to have a place of their own away from the city and police harassment, coexisted peacefully (for the most part) and spent most of their days creating art and modifying their "homes." Though the story takes a turn when the group is evicted from the land to make way for a city park, the overall message of Bums' Paradise is one of hope – something that's usually lacking when homeless issues are the topic of discussion.