Everyday Activist - Dream On (MLJFF 2015)

Posted on Monday, November 16, 2015 at 08:00 PM

Dream On

Movie Review by Everyday Activist X CalgaryMovies.com

In the US especially, news is best delivered from comedians. John Fugelsang, a political comedian narrates the documentary Dream On from a comedy club and on the road following the footsteps of Alexis Tocqueville, a Frenchmen who came to the United States and wrote about how people could work hard to make a good life for themselves, otherwise known as the American Dream. He ventures to all the places Tocqueville went in 1831, talking to a variety of people about the American Dream and whether or not they still believed in it. While people aren’t formally born into a classed system and in theory should be able to work hard to make a better life, the movie shows that environment has a significant impact on opportunities to those least likely to be able access them.

This comes as no surprise, given the US government bails out banks, but has no problems with repossessing homes of ordinary citizens who have also suffered with the financial crisis. Fast food workers not making a living wage and the shrinking industrial landscape have made life difficult on both sides of the 49th. In Canada, with a smaller population and more of a socialist outlook, access to social programs and education while not perfect help people stay afloat during tough times. It’s hard to imagine education being a barrier, since the curriculum is standardized in such a way that all children have a chance to do well no matter what school they attend. In the US, the difference between a good school and a bad school could mean a completely different life, as the documentary points out.

Despite all the depressing news, John does talk about people who are doing their best to change the system in order to give people access to better opportunities. In Detroit, people can take advantage of cheap real estate pricing to buy buildings to house co-operatives that teach people new skills.

Designer Veronika Scott, the crazy coat lady, works in one of those building and hires homeless people to make her sleeping bag/coat designs, paying them well above Michigan’s minimum wage. Her project, while made in America, has attracted attention in other countries as well. In Harlem, John talks with the president of Children’s Zone, whose program attempts to, interrupt “the poverty to prison pipeline” by providing quality programs in a healthy environment.

Dream On will play at the Marda Loop Justice Film Festival 2015 on November 22nd at 3:45 PM at the River Park Church. Some members from the Movie Nights Meetup Group are going if you would like to join them. I encourage everyone to go to see if George Carlin’s observation rings true, "It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it." 

Calgary Showtimes: Dream On >