No-holds-barred account of lives of the homeless is an ‘awakening of our social conscience’

‘When they look at us, they never look into our eyes.”

This phrase in particular struck one woman who was watching God’s Work at Durban’s Denis Hurley Centre (DHC), an inner-city NGO caring for the needs of the city’s homeless and vulnerable.  

The full-length feature film, by local writer and director Michael James, is a no-holds-barred account of the lives of five homeless men. It received its world premiere last week at the Durban International Film Festival.  

The film can be viewed this coming weekend in Johannesburg and Cape Town (see details below). But even if you cannot see the film, it has important lessons for the way in which we can all respond to the growing problem of homelessness in South Africa.

The woman who highlighted the phrase above is none other than Justice Navi Pillay, a Patron of the DHC, and formerly the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.  

Having led human rights investigations around the world, she was back in her hometown and deeply moved by this attempt to go “deep into the world of homeless people in our city: it is both a revelation and an awakening of our social conscience.”

“Awakening us” to this major problem in our cities is exactly what the director intended.  

He was inspired to make the film after volunteering during the Covid lockdown at the DHC. The more time he spent with the homeless community, the more determined he was that their stories be seen by a wider audience.  

He committed to getting the funding together to make a film – and five years later, he has made good on that promise, thanks to the KZN Film and Tourism Authority and the National Film and Video Foundation.

I am especially aware of the issue of homelessness, having worked in this field in South Africa for 11 years and, before that, in London and New York. But, in fact, anyone who drives around our cities is constantly reminded of this by the presence of people begging and hustling.  Strangely, though the problem is very visible, the people who find themselves homeless often feel invisible.  

As one actor in the film, Mbulelo Radebe, puts it: “When you’re on the streets, people look through you. I’m tired of being invisible.”

Of the audience of almost 200 people at the Denis Hurley Centre screening, more than half were homeless people themselves. (Indeed, some of them appear as extras in the film.)  

Afterwards, there were small group discussions with a mix of homeless and non-homeless people. Time and again, the issue of invisibility came up. “At places like the DHC we actually feel seen… Mostly, people do not see or try to understand homeless people.”

The film includes scenes in which police abuse and beat homeless people. But though these scenes are graphic, for some viewers they were mild compared with the treatment they have experienced on the streets of Durban (and other cities) at the hands of the SAPS and Metro Police. 

Politicians in the film also treat the homeless as “objects” – either fodder for a demonstration, or runners for criminal activities, or “extras” to appear in the background when they want to score political capital.  (Regrettably, despite invitations to eThekwini and KZN officials and politicians, none made time to see the film.)  

If the government is shown unfavourably, churches do not come off much better. Again, they fall into the trap of treating the homeless as “objects”, not of scorn but pity. Religious types are shown praying at homeless people or praying for them – but never praying with them.  

Meanwhile, do-gooders use homeless people to make themselves feel better. In a particularly funny scene, comic genius Aaron McIlroy plays someone desperate to clock up his “67 Minutes” while broadcasting his good works on social media. Frustrated at “the ungrateful poor”, he throws the bags of crisps at them and walks away. Asked where they got all the crisps, one of the group replies caustically: “Madiba dropped them off!”

The film should prick the conscience of anyone who thinks they can solve homelessness or save homeless people without actually talking and listening to them. 

As one spectator at the premiere commented: “This film makes me feel uncomfortable – but in a good way.”

The film shows us an alternative: because the homeless men are clearly the subjects in this film. It is they who drive the narrative, which ranges from periods of chaos and noise, to moments of silence and reflection.

It is true that drugs are part of what holds the men together, but so does the friendship and trust they have developed for each other; they keep showing how willing they are to support their friends as their respective journeys converge and diverge. In response to the quote at the top of the article, the character played by Safta award-winning actor Thobani Nzuza says: “I can see into the depths of your eyes; there is still something there.”

Too often we associate homelessness with hopelessness.  

This appears as a metaphor in the film when people succumb to a mysterious “sleeping sickness” which renders them inert. The five protagonists – in awkward, confusing, sometimes humorous ways – are a counter to this.  

They grab at chances of hope, and they find hope in each other. Their dreams are part of what keeps them going, and they hold onto those dreams despite the suffering they face. Again, the character played by Nzuza challenges us: “The only time I feel alive is when I’m dreaming.”

The film does not deliver a feel-good ending but instead leaves us asking questions about what we can do – as homeless people and as non-homeless people – to nurture hope when it would be so easy to give up.

Dr Janine Hicks, a senior lecturer at the School of Law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, led one of the post-screening conversations: “People spoke of the pain triggered by seeing on screen what they live and experience. Stating that it was important for this story to be told, people called for a kinder response from the state, that addresses the causal factors behind homelessness; for respect, not pity; and for opportunities to develop their skills and talents.”

Thandisizwe Mpungose, an Inkosi from the Eshowe area, noted how many homeless people yearn to return home but feel shame: “As traditional leaders, we have a unique platform to work with individuals and communities to create a safe environment for reunification, and to initiate dialogues on how to create stable employment opportunities closer to home.”

The director worked closely with homeless people to craft the film. In fact two of them, Lucky Dlungwane and Zwelithini Ndadane, are honoured as “consultants” in the film’s credits; they took the stage, alongside the cast and the crew, to receive the audience’s applause at the red-carpet premiere.  

Organisations in the National Homeless Network always try to start by listening. That is why the Denis Hurley Centre provides primary healthcare because we hear how homeless people are treated in government clinics. It is why U-Turn, another NGO, has developed second-hand shops in Cape Town and Johannesburg that provide the employment that homeless people seek. As one homeless man explained in his discussion group: “We don’t want money; we want to be able to earn our own money.”

At a national level, some steps have been taken in the right direction.   The Department of Social Development is developing a “green paper” towards a national policy on homelessness – something that, bizarrely, is lacking.  

The Human Sciences Research Council, which led this project with the National Homeless Network, made sure the voices of homeless people were included in that process. That is a good start. DM

God’s Work will be screened as an extended part of the Durban International Film Festival; Saturday, 2 August at 12pm at the Bioscope, Johannesburg; Sunday, 3 August at 12pm at the Labia Theatre, Cape Town.

Dr Raymond Perrier is the director of the Denis Hurley Centre and current chair of the National Homeless Network. For more information about either, email raymond@denishurleycentre.org