Being without cable for the summer, my family has turned to our local PBS station for counter programming to summer re-runs. Last night, I was lucky to stumble upon the premiere of a new documentary on people with mental illness called West 47th Street.
This documentary follows the lives of several people as they move into a program called Fountain House in New York City. Fountain House is a place where people with serious mental illnesses live as they try to mainstream into regular life. Fountain House gives them a place to live (although one of the people profiled refuses to believe that his apartment is better than living on the street) helps them find a job (most of the jobs are doing things for Fountain House) and generally helps them learn how to adapt to living in the "real" world.
This is a moving documentary that effectively highlights the triumphs and failures of these people as they move through the program.
I am not going to spoil anything, but I was crying at the end.
Check your local listings for times.
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