Movie Night - Dark Days

British model Marc Singer had heard all of the New York City urban legends about alligators in the sewers and gangs of people living in tunnels.

I was fascinated by what it must be like to be homeless, so I just started hanging out with some people in my neighborhood in New York who were living on the street, helping them out however I could. One of them would tell me about the tunnels. When you're on the street, you hear different stories about different things. I kept hearing all this crazy stuff, so I decided to go exploring to see if the tunnel rumors really matched what everyone was talking about.

So he did what anyone would do...he joined them, living in a dark, Amtrak train tunnel in New York City. It was a project that consumed six years of Singer's life, culminating in the documentary Dark Days.

It was nice as far as tunnels go, if that makes any sense. It just had the best variety of people in it. There was a really big mix, and the people had really done well for themselves for being homeless, more than in the other tunnels. They had built themselves these houses and all these different things. I was in awe of everybody, really. I had so much respect for them because I used to think, 'If I was homeless, would I be able to do the same thing?'

As he got to know these homeless individuals, his preconceived ideas of them and their lives changed dramatically. And then one fateful night, Ralph, one of his new friends joked that their lives should be a movie.

Even if all it did was make people not look with so much hate toward people on the street, it would be a good, worthwhile thing to do, Singer says.

And so the idea began. The fact that Singer knew nothing about movie making - he had never even seen a movie camera - did not stop him. He walked into a camera store, and absorbed all he could. He enlisted the tunnel residents as his film crew - each contributing their own unique skills. One talented resident, Henry, built a dolly and track system, as well as tapping into a city power box 30 blocks away and running cords all the way back to the tunnel where a single bulb could act as rudimentary lighting for the camera.

There's a lot of reasons that I wanted them to be the crew. Being on the street, you lose a lot of your self-esteem and your self-respect. Considering all of the other things that internally happen to you, you're really quite shattered. Being the crew on the film gave people a lot of that confidence back. It's a difficult thing to make a film, and yet they were doing this thing that you're supposed to be really educated in. That really brought people to life again. Also, I wanted to help them get themselves out of the tunnel. If the film was going to do that, they had to be a part of it. It would also teach people to work in a group again, work as a team, because they're gonna be back in the work force and they've got to be able to work with people. In the beginning, it was a little difficult because none of us had a clue, but after three or four weeks, they would say to me, 'Where are you going to film tonight?' and I'd get there and the cameras would be loaded, sound ready, lights ready, everyone's like a full working group. It was amazing.

And after a long, long road waiting for funds to appear that would enable the film to be edited and shown, Singer made good on his promise to get his friends out of their situation. He felt that people - even those in the harshest circumstances - could improve their lives when given a second chance.

In one of their darkest days, Amtrak officials decide to forcibly remove the homeless people from the tunnel, and the Coalition for the Homeless comes to their defense, ultimately finding housing vouchers for the 75 people living in the tunnel. The film concludes with vignettes of them thriving in their new apartments, living life out in the light of day. The DVD also adds more timely information on the life paths of the subjects. Sadly, not all have made it.

Quite an extraordinary project, and one worthy of respect.