“American Winter“
This documentary follows the personal stories of families struggling to get by after the most recent economic crisis. This eye opening experience sheds light on the millions of families that have to struggle to get their most basic of needs to merely survive. After the Great Depression, safety nets were created to help citizens whom are in their time of need. This safety net has severely weakened by the massive budget cuts. This would in turn create the perfect storm where there are a greater amount of families in need but fewer resources available to these same families.
Filmmakers were able to monitor the emergency hotline and record calls from distressed families in the Portland. As the documentary unfolds, the stories begin to take shape and become more and more in-depth. The film allows the audience to take a front row seat to watch as families, very similar to their own, try to keep their head above water. These families gave a vivid realization as to what could happen to anyone at any moment. Having children go hungry, families having no heat for the winter time and families having to deal with health issues that overwhelm any budget because of rising health costs.
The eight families put a face to the rising inequality and humanized the experience. This allows the audience to familiarize themselves and draw a closer connection between the people displayed in the documentary and viewers, whom have little to no knowledge of the inequality and how this affects normal, everyday people.
As a documentary that looks to shed light on the rising inequality throughout America, this film succeeds in getting their message out. This film goes the extra mile to completely engross the viewer in these families’ hell that is their everyday life.