directed by:
Stacey Stone, Diane Mellen written by: Stacey Stone genre: Documentary |
Ultimately, everyone has a story to tell – it’s just that most never take the opportunity to tell it. Meet “Kenny,” a seventy-two-year-old dude who has certainly put in his time at this point - yet has somehow come out seeming happier than most people you’re likely to meet. He’s got no fixed address, and he’s living under a tree when we meet him in this short film, making our introduction to the man unique in the sense that we don’t see too many stories like this told onscreen. Yet, we pass people like him every day in the street without thinking twice about what we’re actually seeing.
What makes Kenny’s unhoused situation more of a different tale than most is that he is seemingly uninterested in changing anything about his circumstances whatsoever – he’s happy to be outside doing whatever he wants to. He more or less always has been. He’s seen times of plenty and times of scarcity, and he’s navigated both exactly as he’s wanted to. Sure, you get a whole lot of people that quickly pass judgment on seeing folks living outside as he does, and they never hold back on the comments they feel so inclined to make, but if there’s ever been a more harmless dude than Kenny on this floating rock we all call home, I’ve yet to meet that person. He’s never been shy when it comes to hard work – he’s been there & done that, and now, he’s essentially retired and living under his tree where he’s happiest. “I just don’t like it inside.” I know what you’re thinking – he’s crazy, right? Don’t get me wrong, as a person who basically lives too much of his life inside the house like I do, I hear a statement like that and immediately have SO MANY questions that my brain can hardly keep up. What about all that awful weather stuff? I don’t like it if it’s too hot OR too cold – I’m that guy you know that wants everything in life to somehow magically hover between eighteen and twenty degrees Celsius—no more, no less. Unless you wanna hear about a whole laundry list of privilege-assed complaints, leave the thermostat where it is, you feel me? Kenny concedes that weather can be his biggest adversary without a proper roof over his head, but rain or shine, he’s weathered the entire storm of life in a way that takes real courage. He ain’t disturbing YOUR peace, so why on earth should anyone out there be disturbing his? Life isn’t meant to have one singular blueprint that we’re all supposed to follow – it’s an individual thing. So…look…personally, I completely enjoy learning about people like Kenny Harris. In my opinion, he’s found the real keys to life, he’s broken through the Matrix of this valley of malls we’ve created, and he’s come out smiling on the other side of it, fully aware, healthy, and happy as a clam – we should all be so lucky. That’s the real crux of the matter, though – it’s not luck at all; it’s all by choice. Kenny’s made a whole series of choices that have led him from making a cool three hundred a day to finding a different path that meshes together social assistance and the kindness of strangers instead.
No matter which of those two scenarios he’s ever been in, from this account of his story, he’s always lived outside whenever he could be. He’s not the guy you worry about on the side of the street. He’s not trying to be an inconvenience. He’s not begging for money. He’s not shooting up drugs in front of your kids. He’s simply trying to live the one life he’s got in the way that truly suits him best – and long may he run! Would I expect most folks out there watching “Kenny” to completely get it? Not really if I’m being honest with ya. There will be those that watch this short film with disdain for our titular hero. There will be people that will see “Kenny” through a lens of empathy or sympathy – and he doesn’t need any of that either. What would we be sympathizing with – his happiness? What a strange concept that would be, wouldn’t it? Are we supposed to be sad for a homeless guy who doesn’t even WANT a house? What sense would that make when he’s as content as he genuinely is? There will be watchers who are the same people that would make derogatory comments to him while passing him on the street - that would never understand where Kenny has come from or why he’s chosen the path that he’s on today – and we kind of have to live with all of those scenarios knowing that the way we view a film like this is always going to say more about us than it is about him. He’s living proof that we all have a story to tell – and that it’s just a matter of whether or not you’re the kind of person who is willing to listen. So yeah…you could look at this short tale of Kenny Harris as a snapshot of what it might be like to take up a conversation with anyone you see out there on the side of the road, because you really don’t know their story until you ask. To me, that’s interesting – and I appreciate what Writer/Director Stacey Stone along with co-director Diane Mellen have put out here. I don’t know that it’s the kind of breakthrough film that’s going to set the world ablaze or go viral and such, but I do think that what they’ve got here is an important reminder of what it’s like to be a human being on our own terms, living free. I’m going with a solid three & a half stars out of five here. I don’t know how many folks Diane/Stacey interviewed before they were fortunate enough to find such a wonderful representation of our shared humanity in Kenny, but I’m sure glad they took the time to find him, and pass on what he’s learned in life to all of us. |
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