In the 1986
film "The Breakfast Club," Andrew Clark and four odd rebels are
restricted to the high school library in an all-day Saturday detention. 23-year old actor Emilio Estevez performs the
part of clean-cut Andrew, the state wrestling champion. Estevez’ character
feels out of place in detention; he is the jock in his letter jacket, confined
with what he considers as misfits. He begins this long day annoyed that he is
punished for a cruel prank that his father made him do.
The day in detention is spent with bad
behavior, rude pranks, bitter tears and heartless insults, and, finally, with
sincere confessions and friendship. While "The Breakfast Club" is a
story of civil disobedience against what might seem ridiculous and unfair
rules, it is, most of all, a lesson about the bonding and relationships that
can arise when social barriers are broken down amid tension and emotional
honesty.
In his twenties, Emilio Estevez went on to
act in other films with his fellow Brat Packers – costars Judd Nelson, Ally
Sheedy, Andrew Hall, Molly Ringwald, and
others - starred in ten coming-of-age movies beginning with "The
Outsiders" in 1983 and ending with "Wisdom" in 1986.
Estevez is the son of Martin Sheen and the
brother of Charlie Sheen. When he began finding acting success, his father
Ramon Estevez took the stage name of Martin Sheen, a name that is a blend of
people who had helped him in life. Young
Emilio chose to keep the family name of Estevez partly because he wanted to be
recognized on his own merit, without the influence of his father Martin.
Estevez gives credit to his father,
however, for gifting him with the talent that runs through his family, and for
giving him a movie camera at the age of 11. Father Sheen brought 14-year old Emilio
on location of the filming of "Apocalypse Now" when he was 14. If Emilio wasn’t born an activist and
advocate for social change, his father’s influence and avant-garde upbringing
certainly put him on that path.
In high school at Santa Monica High School in
California in 1980, Emilio starred in a film he co-wrote about Vietnam
veterans, “Echoes of an Era." After he had acted in, wrote and/or directed
26 films before 1999, the nearly 40-year old actor decided he wanted to “start
making films he wanted to see.” That resolve resulted in only nine films
between 1999 and 2010, the year of his last film.
In 2007, thirteen years ago, Estevez read
an April 2 Los Angeles Times column by the retired assistant director of the
Salt Lake Public Library Chip Ward. “Written Off” was actually excerpted from a
blog post by Ward, a retired assistant director of the Salt Lake Public
Library.* Ward sympathetically described the homeless, harmless, poor, and
mentally ill who simply are looking for a warm, safe place to welcome them.
Ward writes: “Public libraries … are open and tolerant, even inviting and
entertaining places for [the homeless and mentally ill] to seek refuge from a
world that will not abide their often disheveled and odorous presentation,
their odd and sometimes obnoxious behaviors and the awkward challenges they
present.” Estevez was intensely moved by
the article – both by his own need to expose humanitarian issues that trouble
today’s society, but also by the honest prose of a librarian who felt much the
same.
Estevez knew the public library well in
2007 – he had spent days a decade before in the Central Branch of the Los
Angeles Public Library researching for his film "Bobby" based on the
assassination of Robert Kennedy. “Bobby” premiered in 2006 to critical reviews.
Estevez set about writing "The
Public" in 2007, after reading that LA Times article, and then began
hanging out again in the library – this time people watching. He wanted to
write an important screenplay about the Public – the homeless and mentally ill
in our society who find acceptance and comfort in the embrace of the open,
tolerant and welcoming rooms another Public (the library.)
It’s no secret that the homeless and
mentally ill have nowhere to go during the daytime hours when the shelters are
closed. Stores and other off-limit public buildings do not welcome them. But
libraries do not discriminate – there is “no first-class cabin within the walls
of the library.” Public libraries across
this country are hives of activity for all social classes. Darien, Connecticut,
one of the most affluent communities in the United States, boasts that over 95%
of its residents have a public library card.
Lady Bird Johnson said of the public library: “There is no place in any
community so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance
requirement is interest.” And interest in a safe and welcoming environment is
what has become the de facto shelter of the public library.
Public libraries have also become
government and private business access points – Social Security, IRS, health
and job applications have moved online where vulnerable populations must go to
complete them.
The Public hit theaters on Friday, April 5
after 12 years in the making. I was fortunate enough to see the movie both in
July 2018 and again in January 2019 during screenings at the American Library
Association conferences with Estevez in attendance. He was interested in
learning what librarians felt about the depiction of their profession. The
standing ovations said it all. Librarians felt that the business of
librarianship was well-represented and that the fragile populations who find
safe haven in the library were depicted honestly.
Estevez said that as the years passed
between 2007 and 2018, he realized that the issues in the film were “right out
of the headlines." The deadly effect of the polar vortex each winter was
unfolding in front of our eyes, particularly in the Midwest – as it was at the
Cincinnati Public Library, the setting of "The Public."
Estevez’ co-star Christian Slater also
starred in the film "Bobby."
Slater says, "One of the things I truly admire about Emilio is …
his passion … to take on the real issues and raise awareness.” The lessons
Andrew Clark learned in the high school library were not lost on Emilio
Estevez. In "The Public," he is again amongst the rebels he must bond
with to move beyond society's social barriers.
The Public will be screened at the Dedham
Community Theatre this month. The library will screen the film once the video
becomes available and will have copies to borrow.
Chip
Ward’s entire blogpost can be found in How the Public Library Became HeartbreakHotel at TomDispatch.com, April 2010.
