The Things I Cannot Change

This intimately photographed and unscripted feature allows us to spend a few weeks wth the Bailey family in a Montreal that seems unsympathetic to their growing array of problems. Dad is a bit flaky and a cook, when he can find work, whilst his more stoic and expectant wife remains at their over-crowded home looking after their nine children. The oldest is twelve and though they do receive some government assistance, it's nowhere near enough to feed this family that will soon consist of twelve souls. He is a temperamental gent. He has been in trouble with the police - but he isn't a violent man nor, from what we see here, is he prone to expletive outbursts towards either his wife or a brood whom he quite clearly adores. As they grow up, their parenting tasks become harder and their ingenuity more thinly stretched. Is this vicious circle going to negatively impact on the children and/or might circumstances force him to seek work elsewhere and therefore break up this tightly knit unit? There are some interestingly contradictory themes here and the lack of narration and structure allows us to watch and form our own opinion. Are they the architects of their own predicament or is society? Ought a family with so few resources to take more social responsibility or has humanity a collective responsibility to ensure they are well provided for as befits a civilisation? They all appear very used to the camaera, which at times does compromise the honesty of their "performances" but there is certainly something of the poverty trap exposed here that need not just apply to Canadians in the late 1960s, and it does invite some thought.