"Everybody has their part in the drama and no part is any better than any other part. They are just parts in the drama." - Ram DassA few nights ago, I watched a haunting movie, "Killer of Sheep," about the day to day life of a black family in the Watts section of Los Angeles. I knew very little about this movie other than it contained beautiful black and white film photography and was a classic.
The most striking aspect of the film is the unbiased view of neighborhood - the hood. It shows kids throwing rocks at each other, scampering over hills of debris, building forts, playing, destroying, wrestling, teasing - childhood reality both funny and cruel. My husband and I began to talk about our childhood and the adventures and misadventures we shared with the children in this film. Neither of us were raised in affluence and I suppose we were just steps away from this gut shot community of unemployed, subsistence employed people.
It is a film that shows us how to survive without a safety net, without extras, without a happy future. It is a film that shows the cost of resilience.
