Human Rights International Film Festival at the MFA
The Axe in the Attic: Review follows.
Sunday, January 20, 2 pm
Friday, January 25, 5:45 pm
Saturday, January 26, 12:45 pm
Thursday, January 31, 6 pm
Hot House: A probing documentary that explores the emergence of a Palestinian national leadership within Israeli prisons. Screens Sunday, January 20, 2008, 10:30 am.
White Light/Black Rain: A film exploring the threat of nuclear weapons today while looking at mistakes of the past. Screens Sunday, January 20, 2008, 12:15 pm.
Nanking: The story of the Japanese invasion of Nanking, China, in the early days of World War II and a small group's effort to establish a safety zone. Screens Sunday, January 20, 2008, 2 pm.

The Human Rights International Film Festival at the MFA opened with a whimper on Wednesday--but that wasn't a bad thing. The opening film, The Axe in the Attic, had most audience members on the verge of tears as they watched (former) Mississippi and Louisiana residents negotiate their new lives in FEMA trailers, hundreds of miles from home, or sifting through the rubble of the houses.

See link above for a full schedule of the HRW film fest, or read on for a review of The Axe in the Attic.

While we've all seen devastating footage of Katrina's aftermath, The Axe in the Attic stands out from other documentation of the tragedy by allowing its filmmakers to participate in the story. While Ed Pincus and Lucia Small struggled with the decision to include footage of themselves in the film, their choice to put themselves on the line--and the screen--right alongside their subjects shows the true nature of Katrina: it's America's problem, not just New Orleans'. When Ed and Lucia grapple with whether or not to give their subjects money--a highly taboo action in the world of journalism--or have difficulty responding to subtle accusations that they're exploiting their subjects, it lends the film a richness that recognizes the complicated nature of Katrina. The hurricane did more than destroy land, lives, and property: it displaced thousands of people and shredded the pretense of American equality.

Following several families in their path away from or back to New Orleans, The Axe in the Attic features footage from Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, Texas, Mississippi, and various parts of Louisiana, including FEMA trailer parks. Seeing families squished into 20' x 8' structures, individuals with skin lesions from the floodwater, waterlogged family photo albums, an overturned piano that no longer plays, a favorite stuffed animal buried in the floor beneath hurricane debris, and other moving images is nothing new, but it's heartwrenching every time. The people affected by Katrina now live in tents, in trailers, in hotels they can't afford. They have gone--and are still going--weeks, months, years without seeing any FEMA money. Yet despite the hardship, they persevere.

One particularly affecting scene shows a Katrina evacuee in a FEMA office in San Antonio, showing pictures of her ruined home, asking for the umpteenth time why she has yet to receive any money or even acknowledgment from FEMA despite filling out countless forms and sending in packages with her former housing information, her current contact information, and documentation of the damage to her home. She shows pictures of a ruined apartment to the FEMA rep, who asks her if she can be present in New Orleans for an inspection of her home. Asking someone in San Antonio to go back to New Orleans (at least an 8-hour drive) to have a ruined home inspected? Oh, and did we mention that this particular evacuee resettled in Austin, Texas, and had to drive 90+ miles to San Antonio just to meet with a FEMA officer after Austin's FEMA branch closed? The senselessness of the moment is familiar to anyone who's grappled with government bureaucracy, but most of us are dealing with issues like the annoyance of registering a car or paying taxes--not trying to recover the worth of our homes. And the clincher in this situation? A few months later, FEMA reported having no record of this particular visit, or any of the documentation provided.

The Axe in the Attic also shows incredible perseverance in hard times. Evacuees have a birthday party, celebrate Christmas, start new businesses, and more. After going through items in his family's ruined home, one Native American survivor puts on his native regalia and dances in front of the house. It's a touching moment that also hints at previous horrors of American history.

The tragedy of Katrina is truly many tragedies, but at the heart of it lies our nation's reluctance to recognize poverty as something that should be fought as hard as terrorism. In response to 9/11--another deeply affecting American tragedy--we've waged war on other countries for nearly five years. In response to Katrina, we've done almost nothing. While terrorist activity remains a nebulous threat, poverty remains a daily reality for thousands of Americans.

Few leading presidential candidates have made poverty a major issue in their campaigns. Mitt Romney doesn't have poverty as a campaign issue on his website. Hillary wants to strengthen the middle class, but doesn't make much mention of those who are already poor. McCain reveals economic (mostly tax) policies, focused on the middle class, not the poor. Mike Huckabee has a tax/economy section of his site that does specifically acknowledge the poverty line (if briefly). Among the major candidates, only Obama and Edwards are unafraid to use the "p" word and acknowledge that not everyone in this country is middle class.

It's clear that poor people remain a marginalized force in our society. Unable to "vote" with their purchases, sometimes unable to actually vote because they work several jobs and are unable to get time off to go to the polls, and certainly unable to buy policy positions from the candidates, the poor typically have a very limited profile in America. The Axe in the Attic is an important reminder not only that poverty exists, but that a disaster could make any of us poor at any moment. Do we want a country that focuses on rewarding the wealthy, or a country that focuses on helping the needy? The decision is yours to make in upcoming primaries and in November.

As described on The Axe in the Attic's website, "The consequences of a breakdown of trust between a government and its citizens and the enduring capacity of human beings to face their survival with dignity form the backdrop for this universal story of the search for home."