CARTS OF DARKNESS

Carts of Darkness

This is a very inspiring documentary film by a paralyzed film director, Murray Siple. Murray Siple's feature-length documentary follows a group of homeless men who have combined bottle picking with the extreme sport of racing shopping carts down the steep hills of North Vancouver.

This subculture depicts street life as much more than the stereotypes portrayed in mainstream media. The film takes a deep look into the lives of the men who race carts, the adversity they face and the appeal of cart racing despite the risk.

These men have taught him a variety of things from general life to the shopping cart techniques. I have only realised that the paralyzed person was Murray himself when I went to research more about him. I have found some information about him that may interest you, it's right below this video.

Film has scene with vulgarities, viewers discretion is advised. But it's a really really good documentary, try not to give this one a miss.





Taken from rabble

A dream life was destroyed in 1996 for Murray Siple, North Vancouver resident thrill-seeker and photographer. A natural athlete who spent his youth as a quarterback, mountain biker, snowboarder and sport filmmaker, Siple's fast-forward life in motion was abruptly halted when he was involved in a car accident rendering him a quadriplegic.

For eight years he did not pick up a video camera. Then one day, Siple decided to say hello to the homeless men he always saw in the parking lot of his local grocery store, dropping off their empty bottles for money.

"They were immediately accepting of me," recalls Siple, whose curiosity would bloom into a full-scale National Film Board production, Carts of Darkness (2006), which recently screened at the 2008 Hot Docs Festival in Toronto in April.

Siple says Big Al's parents were in tears after the screenings. Since those showings, Al has gone back to live with his family, quit the drink and also stopped collecting bottles.

"That's such a reward," says Siple. "Al still rides carts and he calls me about three times a week."

Fergie is in a homeless shelter: "Hopefully, we can encourage him to put the bottle down."