Hector: A Film Review

Hector : An independent British film written and directed by Jake Gavin

 

Being on my own last evening for the second night this week and not having my husband to consider because he is in France working, I was left with my own free choice in the, what to watch before going to bed debate. I selected a film offered on TV and chose it mainly because I saw that Peter Mullan was playing the lead character and I have never seen him turn in a duff performance, he is on my list of reliable trustworthy actors. He was amazing in, ‘The Top of the Lake’ and ‘The Fixer’ in recent years. I had heard nothing about this film. 

The film is about a homeless man, Hector McAdams who makes an annual journey from Glasgow where he and his chums have been sleeping under cardboard boxes, and sets off to London to stay in a Crisis shelter for homeless people in the festive season during the cold, difficult and miserable Christmas period as he had done countless times before so the story tells. This time, he has been to the hospital because of health problems and they send him to make an appointment for further tests and possibly surgery. Of course he does not have an address and is not used to hanging around in one spot all that long and again moves on. 

Wondering if his problems could be terminal, he thinks he should build in time on this the latest of his epic journey’s to get back in touch with his family and friends again; he has not seen them in about sixteen years I gathered and were less than welcoming when he turned up pointing out how cruel he had been to leave them and not let them know where he was of how he was, but had no concerns about why he had left and were just concerned that the possibility that he wanted to be taken in again which they were obviously not prepared to do, now they knew for sure that he was ‘Of no fixed abode’ as they say. 

The film certainly shows how resourceful one can become when survival is a daily battle. The demonstrations of a couple of his improvised cleaning up sessions were gems. He was shown as finding some people who were kind to him and he managed to pick up a few decent free meals in cafes and shelters, and some free hand outs of warm clothing. 

Peter Mullan is quietly breathtaking in his portrayal of this very resourceful man who is managing against strong odds to survive and still be a decent human being, no matter how coarsely he is treated by others. Keith Allen pops up now and again as his friend Jimbo, and the excellent Stephen Tompkinson and Gina Mckee as his deserted family. Sara Soleimani plays a woman whose own life is slipping past her whilst she cares for others. 

Hector makes his journey by endless hitchhiking and long distance walking more often than not in wet and freezing conditions. I’ve heard a lot of people tell me that the homelessness is a choice. Maybe that is true but there has to be a reason that you would make that choice and it’s not been made clear to me yet.  

Beggars 

People seem to ignore beggars on the whole

As they wander past the down town shops

A beggar by a doorway or propping up a wall

How few of us even look’s at them, or stops  

“Have you got any spare change please”,

They ask, holding a cup, a pot, a hat, in place

They can see you are loathed to touch them

That much is written all over your uppity face 
 

The argument against is always the same
They’ll only spend it on drugs or drink

Isn’t that what you say to yourself?

Isn’t that what you deep down think? 

What if, when it comes down to it, it’s true?

What if your whole fifty pence goes in a trice

With the rest he has gleaned that day

And spent on continued ruin against all advice 

Understanding this widely held attitude

Is totally beyond anything in my mind

Don’t tell me you’d choose to be this man

Beg in the street, a bottle in hand to find 

Nobody aims to live that sort of way

Once a life has turned so horribly sour

You don’t choose to smoke dog ends

Or pizza from a waste bin devour 

Is this really what you think is true

Or could it all be heavens simple test?

Help a man or woman get through one day

Are you so much better or he worse than the rest?