I am an Adult Education Instructor at a Women's Correctional Facility in New York. I have been teaching the homeless and the incarcerated for twelve years. Before becoming an Adult Education Instructor I worked with what the State of New York calls "children at risk" which are children who are homeless and living in shelters or whose parent's have founded cases of child abuse. I was so frustrated with what the aftermath of parents behaviors were doing to the children, that I began teaching adults on a dare from a supervisor.
I was very interested in MacArthur Park because I am always searching for a film that shows my students what they looked and acted like "out on the street". MacArthur Park is about as real as it gets without actually sitting on any inner city street corner.
There is a scene where Cody(the main character) is telling Kim (a recovering crack addict) that he has plans and he is going to clean up his life and have a relationship with his son. The camera closes in on Cody's face and you can see that he knows that it may be what he wants but stands little chance of achieving at that time. I have seen that hopeless look thousands of times and it was captured beautifully in this movie.
Later in the movie Cody is talking to a young girl names Linda who is new to the park. Linda seems to be naive and becomes involved with a pimp. Cody tried to become a father figure to Linda and tells her to go home. There is also a woman named Blue(Ellen Cleghorne) who tells it like it is to Linda. She tells Linda to take a good look around her because if she stays in the park she'll be smoking crack and turning twenty-dollar tricks just to get by. Very powerful scenes because substance abusers really don't want anyone else to be in the same mess and they do form a type of family bond to feel more human.
Mr. Wirth realistically captured the feel of the park,the gangs, the living conditions, the mentally ill who are dumped on the streets, and thankfully some good police officers who do offer some rays of hope. Most of the musical score blended in perfectly with the movie, yet Macie Gray's rendition of MacArthur Park was to heavy for the end.
The actors all were extremely believable. Thomas Jefferson Byrd (Cody) is an actor I look forward to seeing again. The actor who portrayed Lou gave a great performance as a crack head (very hyper and jittery). The movie also shows that not all addicts are black or poor -- that this problem affects everyone.
One the down side, I think that more background information is needed for the general public to empathize with the main characters. I know that this movie is based off a journal of Tyrone Atkins but I don't think that anyone seeing this movie at a regular movie house showing would know that it is based on fact. I would have liked to see a blurb at the end stating that Tyrone is making positive changes in his life. This is not a movie for close-minded people; it has a very dark realistic side. I think it should be shown in every Middle school and High School, no one wants to grow up to be homeless and addicts. MacArthur Park does not glamorize this social issue at all, it is very real and I feel this bothers some people.
The showing that my husband Peter and I attended had an opening statement by Billy Wirth and after the showing Billy did a question and answer period. Mr. Wirth also introduced members of Tyrone Atkins family.
The Q and A period was very interesting and Billy responded to all questions and comments. Unfortunately a man who apparently did not like the movie or who directed it chose to corner Billy and Tyrone's family outside of the screening and state his opinion. This upset me because if he had a statement to make about the movie, Billy was entertaining all comers in an open forum. I felt it was cowardly to corner him in private. Prejudice crosses every race, religion, and creed and some people choose to ignore the truth.
Melinda 2001
built mm 8/10/2001