I watched this documentary style film in the early hours of the morning and I’m glad I did. I know and have met the types of people that are portrayed in this short film and this film although labled fiction did not in any way embelish or exagerate the truth of what its like to be homeless and feeling all alone in the world with nobody to turn to. I also lived in Cabramatta for a short period of time and I saw the suffering, the violence, the homeless, the addiction and most of all the sadness. The film gave me a wake up call, a reminder of where I came from as well as the life that I have once lived.
The Finished People
Nominated for an AFI Award in 2004, this is a politically charged documentary-style film that follows the lives of three homeless youths who live in Cabramatta. Tommy is little more than a boy but a veteran of the drug life, having become a user when he was 13. After yet another friend dies of an overdose, Jimmy tries to get clean with help from Sara, a Vietnamese-Australian girl he grew up with. Meanwhile, Van sleeps in a car park above the markets and spends his days stealing clothes. He is estranged from a father who hasn’t stopped fighting the Vietnam War and, when Van rips off a jacket from a clothes line, he meets Carla, a girl who is as open as he is closed. The third youth is Des who sleeps in doorways with his pregnant girlfriend, Sophie. The three stories of the kids’ struggle to survive unfolds in car parks, busy roads, housing commission backyards or near the train line in Cabramatta.