Living Underground

Tales of tunnel dwellers living in the interstices of modern cities have gained the currency of urban myth or have been touched with romance - an image recently reinforced by the finding of a secret tunnel network complete with cinema in Paris. However, this documentary, which charts the experiences of a group of people living in a railway tunnel in New York, gives a much more representative view of what it is like for the homeless who seek shelter underground.

First-time director Marc Singer cheerfully admits to his amateur status when he started filming in the Penn Station-Albany tunnel. With little in the way of budget, the homeless became the film crew. Luckily for the film, a decision by Amtrak to evict the tunnel-dwellers provides a dynamic fulcrum, while the material is skilfully edited. The constant rumble of trains accompanies the grainy black-and-white images and excellent use is made of the music of DJ Shadow.

I would recommend this documentary, but warn that some may find parts of the film a little dull - almost by the very nature of the material. The Amtrak point-of-view could also have been given more attention and the context widened. However, this is a committed documentary that takes an honest and unflinching look at people on the fringes of society who are too often ignored. The rental DVD has an interesting "making of" documentary and gives additional information on how people have coped since leaving the tunnel.