It Was a Wonderful Life (1993)

Director:

Michèle Ohayon

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Feature-length documentary deals with homeless women, once secure in their middle-class status, who through divorce, misfortune, or circumstances were reduced to living on the street. |

Plot Keywords:

Divorce | Homelessness | Narration | Single Mother | Independent Film

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Jodie Foster	...	Herself / Narrator (voice)
Lou Hall	...	Herself (as Lou)
Reena Sands	...	Herself (Ronella) (as Reena [Ronella])
Josephine	...	Herself
Marie	...	Herself
Terry	...	Herself
Alice	...	Herself
Marjorie Bard	...	Herself: Author, "Shadow Women" (as Dr. Marjorie Bard)
Jeanette Goldberg	...	Herself (as Jeanette)
Steve Renehan	...	Himself: City of Los Angeles Housing Authority
Gordon Tuthill	...	Himself: Apartment Building Owner
Wayne Doss	...	Himself: Director of Child Support Operations, L.A. County, District Attorney's Office
Dennis Cohen	...	Himself: Center for Enforcement of Family Support
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Linda Hernandez	...	Herself: Parking Enforcement, City of Santa Monica

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

CineWomen

Quotes:

[first lines]
Title Card: Thousands of homeless people in the United States are hidden and go unrecognized as homeless. The majority of them are women.
Title Card: This film is dedicated to the "Hidden Homeless" women who came forward to tell their stories and allowed us into their lives.

Soundtrack:

Misty

Not Able to Articulate a Clear Message

This is a documentary about homeless women. It was interesting in the sense that this focused on women who are engaged socially - having jobs and lasting friendships - but are in situations where they can not afford housing.

I found some of the women covered to be interesting, but there was little focus or progression in the story. The direction and editing failed to maintain my attention. There were differences in the stories of these women, of course, but the message was essentially the same and could have been told by focusing on any one of them in more depth.

I made it to the end of the movie, but it was a rather boring journey.