Attack the Doc: The “Mole People” Edition

Welcome to ATTACK THE DOC! A JoBlo.com feature that explores the world of documentaries and picks out the best among the best, among the best. We’ll

back and enjoy a little slice of someone else’s.

DARK DAYS

“Even when it’s day, it’s dark down here.”

DARK DAYS is a 2000 documentary directed by Marc Singer.

They’re called vagrants. Bums. Homeless. Despciable. But this contigent of homeless folk are commonly referred to as “mole people”. They don’t

panhandle or harrass pedestrians, nor do they sleep on park benches and doorways or in alleys. These mole people dwell underneath the streets of New York City,

beneath the high rise corporate buildings and multi-million dollar condos and penthouse estates. The place these folks call “home” even lies underneath the New York

subway system. From Penn Station to Harlem, just over a five mile stretch on the abandoned Amtrack railroad, the city’s bravest/craziest homeless have constructed

what looks like the shanty towns of District 9. The better “houses” are structured with plywood, while others are nailed and roped together with thin pieces of wood

with make shift doors. They shower from a broken water pipe running along the concrete ceiling, and when they need supplies, they go “up top” for food or to gather

cans for money. With every “house” having the ability to run electricity throughout their shack, what’s the point of even going “up top”?

This mole dude was

shaving with an electric razor like a boss. A homeless boss.

DARK DAYS follows the daily existence of these mole people and shines a light, where there practically is none, on their home and homelife.

For the most part, these people don’t just end up here, they truly call their shacks in these abandonded railroad lines their “home” and have no plan of ever leaving.

Sure, there are rats by the hundreds and you have to find a way to keep them at bay or kill them. BIG DEAL. In one scene, a man scolds his “houseguest” for leaving a

cup on the floor, thinking that would just bring more and more rats into his abode. In another, a man talks about the rats while cooking some food, saying that

putting certain ingredients in a meal can bring all the rats nearby and “they tell their relatives” and they bring more. Then he throws in a couple handfuls of rat

poison. “They won’t scavenge no more. They too full to go looking for food, so they lay there and go to sleep and don’t wake up.” But it’s not only the rats mole

people worry about. Other vagrants are known to ransack houses. One guy sets up an elaborate booby trap near the walkway to his house. The elaborate booby trap is

one long strip of twine tied to a pole on end and to the handles of a couple pots resting on the ledge. It’s the ol’ “rope tied to pots” booby trap that, for the most

part, seems to work out for this one mole person.

A mole person “up top, going

down.”

For the most part, the mole people tell their story with director Storkel chiming in every now and then to push someone into revealing more about

themselves. And that’s one thing the film does really well, which is to provoke the viewer with more thought than you would walking by someone sleeping on a sidewalk.

What is that makes these people tick? Why is there no motivation to “go up top” for good? Why don’t the mole people do something better for themselves? Is it a

self-defeating or self-sabotaging attitude that keeps them down there? For some, it’s crack. Ah, good ol’ crack, always showing its crackiness into every downfall

known to man (est. 1983). For others, this is truly their home, and it isn’t until Amtrack police storm the railroad yard with a warning that they’ll be forcably

evicted if they do not leave within 30 days that the mole people finally realize that the tunnels aren’t a permanent residence. The director takes it upon himself to

go to the Coalition for the Homeless in order to give the homeless a voice and in the film’s finale, shows that with a little bit of care and understanding, that

through the dark days, there’s still a light at the end of the tunnel. The light is hope.

These two argued about the cleanliness of cooking in the railroad tunnels. The guy on the left ate and taunted the guy on the right about how good

it was. The guy on the right said he’d rather starve…while trying not to look at the food.

DARK DAYS isn’t the best documentary to watch first thing in the morning, after you’ve taken a shower in a sterile bathroom, eaten bacon by the

handful and pop Netflix on your 42 inch LED TV. It’s all about perspective. Will this documenatary make you thankful for what you DO have? Maybe. But it’s

definitely made me appreciate the shit out of my NON RAT INFESTED APARTMENT.

This was a weird scene. The guy on the right just smiled and looked at the camera and made me uneasy.

Watch DARK DAYS

on Amazon here!!!