Alexandra Queen

My public librarian asked me to watch this movie. She was correct. It was excellent and I’m glad I watched it. Emilio Esteves writes, directs and stars in a storybook illustration of political theory in action. A group of people stage an act of civil disobedience to call attention to an issue of their own safety. Are they criminals to be responded to with force or are they citizens in need to be responded to with care? American political scientists Anne Schneider and Helen Ingram suggested that those who lack power in our society are viewed either as “dependents” to be taken care of or “deviants” to be punished. In this film, Esteves focuses on a community in the process of labeling, the weights of the voices involved, and the humanity of the people being judged. He also looks at how our homelessness crisis warps the roles of our public institutions (like the library) and the roles of citizenship (like our brothers and sisters who experience a diminishment in their rights because they are homeless, like the character Cesar who was arrested for singing in public). It’s a gentle telling, filled with likeable characters and careful to avoid too much darkness. But the point of the story was not “how horrible homelessness can be” or “all the problems facing the library” or “all the issues of homelessness”. The point was “how does a community decide whether to punish or care for the people who get in the way”, and that point was nicely and compassionately told.