Review of The Homeless Living in The Amtrak Tunnels: Dark Days: The emotionally intense documentary following the lives of homeless people who have been affected by drugs and comfortability in the tunnel while showing struggle and resilience

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Climbing down the ladder into Marc Singers' social documentary film Dark Days, he sheds light on the lives of homeless people living in tunnels, giving a voice to the community by highlighting struggle and resilience. Singers produced, directed, and photographed the film which follows the lives of people who live in makeshift shelters in an Amtrak railway tunnel in New York and the way their lives have been affected by drugs and comfort in the shelter. This film is like being stuck in a dark tunnel, feeling at ease, and then finally getting out, and realizing how terrible the dark tunnel was. The purpose of Singers' film is to bring attention to the harsh realities of being a person in the homeless community, giving a voice to individuals who are often overlooked.

 

The winner of three awards at the 2000 Sundance Music Festival, Marc Singer is best known for his documentary film Dark Days. In an interview with Lorraine Cwelich, an author at Interview Magazine, Singer explains what compelled him to film the documentary. He explains how he was one of the homeless people living in the tunnels while also helping people for about 3 months. He and his friends were talking about something that happened to one of the guys down there, and Ralph, one of the characters said, "Man, somebody should be making a film about this stuff.” So, Singers said, “Why don’t we do it? If we made any money, it would get everybody out of the tunnel” (Cwelich). He released the documentary on August 30th, 2000, using the money he received from the film to get him and his friends out of the tunnel. He never wanted to be a filmmaker, in fact, he works in the food industry now (Cwelich). This documentary follows the people he was close with throughout their daily lives living in the Amtrak tunnel.

 

This documentary was recorded on film in black and white, with a very low budget. This decision was made based on the environment and the lack of electricity in the tunnels (Sandhu). The raw intimacy in this film leaves the viewers with a different conception of what homelessness is like for people.

 

The emotionally intense documentary Dark Days focuses on the lives of homeless individuals dwelling in the Amtrak tunnels of New York City, bringing attention to their living situations in their makeshift homes. Singers did an exceptional job of allowing the individuals to share their experiences humanely. The individuals share how drug use and comfortability affect their community daily.

 

Personal moments are distinct in Dark Days. The people living in the Amtrak tunnels had a level of comfort that other homeless people on the streets did not have. In a review by Peter Bradshaw, a chief film critic at The Guardian wrote,” They have erected plasterboard partitions, and ingeniously managed to reroute electricity to their homemade shacks, though there is no running water. They can be very houseproud.” They don’t have to worry about finding shelter, being rained on, or being harassed by the public in New York. One of the characters in the film, Greg, lived in the Amtrak tunnel for 5-6 years in a dirty, rat-infested home. The idea of comfort was evidenced when he said, “Shit I got real comfortable in this fuckin’ dump and shit man. Let’s face it, man. I mean, down here, didn’t have to pay no bills, no nothin’. Look at me. I’m using power tools right now and I aint even got to pay the motherfuckin’ bills and shit. I mean, that’s part of comfortability and shit” (Dark Days). Viewers interested in the lives of homeless people can see the raw reasons why these people choose to stay in the tunnels. As viewers, we may share two things. We feel admiration for how resourceful these people can be to survive based on their circumstances or we feel heartbroken and sad that they do not see anything upsetting or concerning about their situation.

 

Substance abuse is widespread in New York City and is prominently featured in the Dark Days documentary. “Homeless though they may be in the usual sense, and addicted though many may be to crack cocaine, the men and women of "Dark Days" are members of a community that does what human communities do -- lend support, enhance safety, confer identity” (Morgenstern). Many times, in the documentary, the characters shared their stories of how they ended up in the tunnel and why they stayed in the situation they were in. One of the women, Dee, lost her two sons in a house fire while she was high on crack. She lost everything, ended up in the tunnels, and continued to use drugs (Dark Days). In a mortality surveillance study located in New York from 2005-2010, the cause of death being drug overdose was 21% of homeless descendants (Gambatese). This statistic emphasizes the significance of drug use among the homeless population which could highlight a handful of people living in the Amtrak tunnel. Drug use is a huge cause of death for homeless people and commonly why they become homeless.

 

At the end of the film, all the people living in the Amtrak tunnels receive a thirty-day notice to leave the tunnels before all their homes are destroyed. Mike Harris, a homeless advocate, helps resolve the living situations of these people. He didn’t think it was fair for them to be kicked out of what they knew as home for many years, so he worked with Amtrack officials to try to resolve the issue (Dark Days).

 

Through the social documentary’s raw and intimate approach, viewers interested in the lives of homeless people notice the struggle and resilience these individuals face. This documentary should be viewed by mature audiences, as there are scenes of drug use and foul language. This film is a must-see if you are interested in the lives of homeless people while looking for a humane approach. Dark Days can be watched on major streaming platforms including Peacock, Amazon, YouTube, and Roku. Marc Singer did a fabulous job of truthfully filming and editing this emotionally intense documentary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Bradshaw, Peter. “Dark Days – Review.” The Guardian, The Guardian, 24 Jan. 2014, www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jan/24/marc-singer-dark-days-documentary. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.

 

By, Joe M. "Notable New Movies." Wall Street Journal, Nov 02, 2000. ProQuest, https://library.indianapolis.iu.edu/cgi-bin/proxy.pl?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/notable-new-movies/docview/398880692/se-2.

 

Cwelich, Lorraine. Marc Singer After Dark, edited by Mel Ottenberg, Interview Magazine , 1 July 2011, www.interviewmagazine.com/film/marc-singer-dark-days#:~:text=I%20loved%20being%20there.,everybody%20out%20of%20the%20tunnel.

 

Gambatese, Melissa et al. “Programmatic impact of 5 years of mortality surveillance of New York City homeless populations.” American journal of public health vol. 103 Suppl 2,Suppl 2 (2013): S193-8. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2012.301196

 

Sandhu, Sukhdev. Dark Days: going underground with New York's tunnel-dwellers, edited by Katharine Viner, The Guardian , 26 Jan. 2014, www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jan/26/dark-days-marc-singer-new-york#:~:text=%22An%20accident%2C%22%20Singer%20admits,it'll%20still%20look%20cool.

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Singers, Marc, producer. Dark Days. Directed by Marc Singers, The Sundance Channel, Columbia Pictures, 2000. Accessed 22 Sept. 2024.