The documentary, Streets of Plenty follows Misha Kleider, a college student, who is thrown into one of the worst neighborhoods in North America, the downtown eastside of Vancouver. Kleider starts out with nothing but a backpack, camera and underwear. His primary objective at first is to try and find public services that will help him survive as a person experiencing homelessness. At first this is tough because most of the citizens in the downtown area don’t live there. Most of these people are coming to downtown Vancouver with the sole reason to shop. Kleider eventually gets help from another homeless person who shows him where a shelter is that can help provide for him. One of the biggest discussion points in the movie is how Vancouver is thought to be a bountiful city, blossoming with prosperity and opportunity. However, the downtown eastside of Vancouver is essentially a slum and provides no opportunity for its inhabitants. Most of the people living downtown are experiencing homelessness and live on the streets. It is shown that two out of every three homeless people have some strain of hepatitis and one out of every three have aids. The aids epidemic was the largest outbreak of aids in an urban setting throughout the world. Not only is Vancouver’s downtown eastside infected with disease, but it also has the highest crime rate in North America and its living conditions compare to that of Botswana, a third world African country. Another topic of the movie is why are people experiencing homelessness not always using these public services that are provided for them. Kleider found that a shelter called
