100 Doors

By the time she reached 20 years old, Kerri Davenport-Burton had lived in over one hundred different places. She looks back on a childhood where she felt she was abused by her mother to the point where she left when she was twelve years old. From that point onwards she never really considered herself homeless because she nearly always slept indoors. Staying with friends, kind strangers, in the back of shops and all manner of places, Kerri managed to keep it together to the point where she was forced to move past this part of her life. She makes this film using those that took her in to tell her story with the aim of confronting her Mum with the facts of her life.

Drawn in by the curious title I found what I thought would be an interesting look at homelessness from the point of view of someone who ran away at 12 without really making much of a fuss about it. Unfortunately this film never really gets to the heart of the matter and comes off as more of a specific personal story rather than a wider documentary. It is still worth seeing because it is an engaging and interesting story that makes you wonder how people do survive in that situation but yet it remains being overblown and tragic – Kerri says that she dislikes the whole 'oh poor me' thing. But it could have done with a bit more of an impact at the same time; the stories all come across as a bit of a laugh and even a bit of a cheery teenage experience, like a stage you get past – which sort of does an injustice to those people who feel stuck and friendless on the streets of the big cities.

At times the film does make reference to the wider issue of runaways and homeless people, by giving mention to the fact that it happens but nothing more than that. Kerri could have used her experiences to form an interesting and personal foundation to a bring out a wider understanding but mostly she misses this chance and just tells her story. Since the film is about her it is a major weakness that the climatic scene (with her mother) is mere seconds long and is basically a non-event, thus not providing a good conclusion. This combined with the lack of a wider view rather takes away from the documentary.

Overall this is an OK documentary that is worth seeing just for being an entry into a world that few of us (hopefully) will experience. However outside of this aspect the film is generally one missed chance after another. It could have opened out into a wider look at the homeless world, or been a more concise personal film but it tries to sort of do both and rather fails to do either. I admire the strength of Kerri to make it through her teens and to be able to look back as a polite person and reflect but it is hard to forgive this film some of its weaknesses.