10 Must-See Movies on Poverty from 2009

As the year draws to a close, it's time to reflect on how we are faring in our fight against domestic poverty. Change.org exists to raise awareness and inspire action; in that vein, I thought I'd take a look at other media efforts to highlight the challenges of poverty in the US and the experiences of the American poor. What follows is a Top 10 list of films depicting poverty in America, sometimes beautifully, sometimes rather clumsily. They are a mix of high-profile, mainstream Hollywood fare, documentaries, and indie films. I compiled the list based on a non-scientific assessment of their popularity and content. Taken together, they're enough to stimulate a rich conversation among us, and some may even motivate us to learn more about and mobilize against the foreclosure crisis, displacement, homelessness, urban poverty, gender and racial inequality, failing schools, and an inequitable criminal justice system.

Let us know in comments if you've seen any of these films and your thoughts on them as effective anti-poverty vehicles. What movies did I miss?

1. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire: Precious, along with The Blind Side, have generated the most buzz as films about poverty in the US. Precious (trailer) - the story of a very poor, pregnant (by incest), illiterate, abused young black woman in 1980s Harlem who finds some degree of salvation through loving educators has many fans and as many critics for its depiction of the brutality and pathologies of poverty. What do you think? Insightful and uplifting? Exploitative and incendiary? Meh?
2. American Violet: This is a documentary about corruption in the criminal justice system, the 'War on Drugs,' racial profiling, and attempted and fraudulent railroading on drug charges of an African-American single mother of four in an Arlington Springs, TX housing project. This movie is based on the true story of a series of unlawful drug sweeps in Hearne, TX in 2000 that resulted in 15% of black men between the ages of 18-34 being wrongfully arrested. The ACLU subsequently brought a class action lawsuit on their behalf. [Trailer]
3. American Casino: Another documentary, American Casino recounts Wall Street's complex financial shenanigans and dubious practices - including subprime lending - that led to the mortgage meltdown, housing market collapse, and foreclosure wastelands dotting the US. Devastated homeowners appear in the film.
4. The Garden: Our third documentary, this Oscar-nominated film captures the efforts of mostly immigrant Latin@s in South Los Angeles trying to protect their community garden - launched in the aftermath of the 1992 L.A. riots - from developers, who bought the land in a closed, discounted deal with L.A. officials. [Trailer]
5. The Blind Side and ...
6. The Soloist: This and The Blind Side (trailer) are true stories of formerly homeless African-American men who are given a second chance based on their rare talents - Michael Oher's football prowess in The Blind Side and Nathaniel Ayers's musical genius in The Soloist (trailer). For Oher, a white family takes him in and ultimately adopts him. For Ayers, L.A. reporter Steve Lopez becomes his advocate after hearing him play. I really liked The Soloist, but these Hollywood films often boil down the complicated, fraught, nuanced and emotional relationships between the protagonists into 'noble white folks rescue sad black person.' So do what you will with them.
7. The Way We Get By: "is a deeply moving film about...troop greeters [in Maine] - a group of senior citizens who gather daily at a small airport to thank American soldiers departing and returning from Iraq ... When its three subjects aren't at the airport, they wrestle with their own problems: failing health, depression, mounting debt." [Trailer]
8. Sunshine Cleaning: "a spirited comedy-drama [about a] single-mom Rose Lorkowski, a plucky ex-cheerleader now cleaning houses...When...a police detective, suggests the lucrative job opportunities in crime-scene cleanup, Rose enlists her sister, Norah...to join her in the gory but ultimately fulfilling business enterprise." [Trailer]
   
9. The Providence Effect:"traces [Chicago's Providence St. Mel's] development from a struggling shoe-string budget dream into a school and a method of teaching that produces not only inspired students, but parents, teachers and administrators dedicated to settling for nothing less than the highest expectations." [Trailer]
10. Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon: "a thought provoking film which tells the inspirational stories of several inner city teens (of differing race, religion and ethnicity) from Harlem to Compton and all points in between, as they compete in an annual business plan competition run by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE)." (A friend of mine was a producer!) [Trailer]

Honorable mentions: Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story, and Food, Inc.

Photo from American Violet by effenk