The Public has its heart in the right place

While The Public doesn’t cover the sexiest topic around (the rising patronage of the homeless at public libraries), the obvious belief that Estevez and a committed cast share in highlighting this human interest issue has a lasting resonance.

Here is a movie that definitely has its heart in the right place.

While The Public sometimes absent-mindedly lets its head stray elsewhere, an honest determination to do right by an issue its filmmaker clearly feels very strongly about proves to be an undeniable saving grace.

Emilio Estevez (son of Martin Sheen, and a key member of The Breakfast Club way back in the day) writes, directs and stars in this folksy drama.

At the core of its premise is an often-unmentioned problem that many public libraries must deal with all over the world: how to deal with a rising level of patronage by the homeless.

The Public has its heart totally in the right place.

The principal setting is a large municipal library in the heart of the city of Cincinnati. It is here, during the height of winter, many homeless people will stay for the entire day to get out of the bitter cold, and have some access to comforts many of us simply take for granted.

The movie is unapologetically upfront about the multiple pressures this places on librarians, who can often find themselves in situations that would test a highly trained mental health professional or social worker.

Estevez plays Stuart, a ‘lifer’ in the library game who has bent the rules whenever he can to look after those he knows are doing it tough.

However, an ambitious city official (Christian Slater) up for re-election senses he can prove a point to would-be voters by tightening the library’s admission protocols.

The homeless regulars that Stuart counts as close friends get wind of the change that is coming, and decide to stage an all-night sit-in at the library on one of the coldest evenings of the year.

The issue is one clearly close to the entire cast.

While various vested interests outside do their best to exploit the situation, Stuart and a few fellow workers join the protest and brace themselves for the worst.

To be honest, while this isn’t the sexiest topic around which to frame a feature film, the obvious belief that Estevez and a committed cast share in highlighting such extreme measures gives The Public a lasting resonance that lives on in the memory for some time afterwards.

THE PUBLIC (M)

Director: Emilio Estevez (The Way)

Starring: Emilio Estevez, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright, Taylor Schilling, Christian Slater, Alec Baldwin.

Rating: ***

The clientele that came in from the cold