POV

Premiere Date: August 29, 2006

Synopsis

The term "working poor" should be an oxymoron. If you work full time, you should not be poor, but more than 30 million Americans — one in four workers — are stuck in jobs that do not pay the basics for a decent life. Waging a Living chronicles the day-to-day battles of four low-wage earners fighting to lift their families out of poverty. Shot over a three-year period in the northeast and California, this observational documentary captures the dreams, frustrations, and accomplishments of a diverse group of people who struggle to live from paycheck to paycheck. By presenting an unvarnished look at the barriers that these workers must overcome to lift their families out of poverty, Waging a Living offers a sobering view of the elusive American Dream.

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Reviews & Reactions

Average Review

| based on 3 reviews

Waging a Living

I show this film to my high school students each year, right before Thanksgiving break. They are engaged by the stories these four people share, in part because many students have lived similar lives. They ask, "Why did you show us such a depressing movie?" and I respond, "Because I want you to be sensitive to your classmates who aren't looking forward to the big Thanksgiving feast you're hoping to have." The lesson that even a small setback can grow into a catastrophe sticks with them.

by Sue Bullock
July 12, 2009, 5:39 PM

Put People First

It just goes to show that American values are dominated by money and things instead of people. I'm saddened by the way teachers, healthcare workers like aids who do the real dirty work, civil servants and childcare workers aren't paid enough to make a decent living. We pay actors and athletes more than the people who choose to educate us, care for us, run our cities smoothly and care for our children! Our values aren't family oriented but mirror the corporate culture of money, money, money.

by Jessica Cruz
July 13, 2009, 11:50 PM

Waging a Living

My teacher gave us this movie to research more in-depth as an assignment. I always felt angry after watching it (we watched it in two segments) because it reminds me a lot of when my mother was raising my sister at seven and I at four when my dad left us completely broke and my mom with three jobs just to cut it for us. Even still it was shocking how hard these people work and how poor they still are. The most shocking to me was Barbara's story; raising 5 kids, keeping a full time job at minimum wage and going to school and then having her benefits cut every time she got a raise was very discouraging until the end when it was uplifting. Everyone in this film is inspiring and it is so good to hear directly from the poor in America because of all the corporate television broadcasts run by millionaires telling you the system in America is fine as it is now and pushing commercial, political, and/or religious views and ideologies to further distort the image of what really is going on in America.

by Mia Dean from Santee, CA
September 15, 2009, 11:43 PM