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Life & Times Transcript
4/12/07 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- She's never had a normal family. Now she's eighteen and on her own. Jennifer De La Rosa>> I'm not scared about falling down or, you know, messing up. I messed up a lot. I've bumped my head and I came back up and I saw that I'm ready to do what I have to do. Val Zavala>> And then, an Oscar winner is caught up in a web of murder, obsession and internet intrigue. Can our critics unravel "Perfect Stranger"? Those stories and more next on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> For most of us, turning eighteen was an exciting time. We were adults, at least legally. But for teenagers in foster care, turning eighteen can be a frightening time. Many of them are turned out on the streets and they end up living there unless they have help. Hena Cuevas introduces us to one young woman who's determined to beat the odds. Hena Cuevas>> Jennifer De La Rosa turned eighteen last March. Like most eighteen year olds, she's thinking about her future, jobs, college, a career. But statistics are against her. Jennifer, who's now an adult, could be living in poverty or, worse yet, on the streets. She's one of an estimated twenty-five thousand foster children in Los Angeles County. Jennifer De La Rosa>> I was moved around from foster home to foster home and I kept going AWOL which kind of means running away. Hena Cuevas>> She was only three months old when her birth mother abandoned her. She and her older sister lived with their father until he got arrested. Jennifer De La Rosa>> And when he got out of jail, he was deported to Mexico, so I haven't seen him since. Hena Cuevas>> The girls were separated and bounced between relatives. Then at fourteen, Jennifer got in trouble with the law. That landed her in the foster care system. What was it like bouncing from home to home? Jennifer De La Rosa>> It was hard. It was hard not having a mom and dad figure. It was hard being with all these other people that were not our parents. It was hard because they had children of their own. Hena Cuevas>> Jennifer kept running away. Finally at seventeen, her probation officer recommended she be sent here to Rosemary Children's Services in Pasadena, the first real home she's known. Rosemary Children's Services is one of the oldest nonprofit organizations working with foster children. More than forty girls are part of their residential program, ages thirteen to eighteen. The younger ones share the main cottage, as it's called. The older ones, like Jennifer, live in regular houses in groups of six. They're all responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the home. Jennifer De La Rosa>> It was scary because of the huge amount of girls there are and we're all like at the same ages. I mean, it's like thirteen through eighteen. I was scared about how it was going to be like when you wake up every day to these girls. It's like a big high school. Hena Cuevas>> One of the scary parts for Jennifer is the intense group therapy. >> "Okay, Rosa, in the house, you have not been listening to staff direction or redirection. You have been caught several times by numerous staff in Lauren's room." Hena Cuevas>> The school she goes to is a non-public school run by the Center. >> "So what would be after the secretary? Is it a comma or is it a period?" Hena Cuevas>> And she also gets one-on-one therapy that's helping her deal with her feelings of abandonment. Today she's talking about the rare chance she got two years ago to ask her birth mother a question that had been haunting her. Jennifer De La Rosa>> The question was why did she leave me? She said that -- it was crazy. She was like, "Jennifer, I didn't come here to talk about that." So it hurt a lot. You know, I was in tears. I was like, "Wow, you know, I haven't seen you in all these years and then I ask you this question and it's like you can't even lie to me and tell me like something just so I can like say, oh, okay, you know." There was a reason behind it. Hena Cuevas>> Jennifer is reaching a milestone in life that even surprises her. This June, she graduates from high school. Jennifer De La Rosa>> And that's what's kept me like focused and motivated. Out of my four older brothers and sisters, none of them have graduated high school. Thank God, I'm going to be the first. Hena Cuevas>> She credits Rosemary Children's Services for giving her the discipline she desperately needed, but old habits die hard. Did you run away? Jennifer De La Rosa>> Yes, I did run away, yeah. Hena Cuevas>> Why? Jennifer De La Rosa>> Because of the fact that, before I came here, I decided after running away from my previous foster home, that maybe I can do it on my own and maybe I should just like rent a room. So I did that. I was working full-time and I quit on school. Hena Cuevas>> Philip Solomon is the Director of the residential program. He says that it's not uncommon for these girls to feel as though they can take care of themselves. Philip Solomon>> Some of them want to be independent young adults when they're thirteen or fourteen (laughter), but we like to slow them down a little bit to help them learn what they need to know so that, when they turn eighteen, they are well prepared to take on that role of providing for themselves. Hena Cuevas>> In Jennifer's case, now that she's eighteen, she can move out. She's going into transitional housing, but is she ready? Jennifer De La Rosa>> I'm not scared about falling down or, you know, messing up. I've messed up a lot. I bumped my head and I came back up and I feel that I'm ready to do what I have to do because it's like I'm on my own now and, if I mess up, I'm messing up for myself and not for anyone else. Hena Cuevas>> When the girls turn eighteen and the state rules that they can leave the system, they usually move into transitional housing. In Jennifer's case, the rent that she will pay for the next two years will be about half of what she would normally pay. However, one of the biggest problems facing the county is that the number of available beds is a lot less than the number of kids leaving the foster system. Every year, more than four thousand foster kids age out, as it's called. But beds at transitional homes are scarce. There's only room for one in four foster kids. More than forty percent of them end up living on the streets. >> "So are you having any reservations about leaving? Getting nervous?" Jennifer De La Rosa>> "Not really. I'm excited, but at the same time, it's going to be like a big step." Hena Cuevas>> But these girls face more than just trying to find an affordable apartment. Executive Director, Greg Wessels, says emotional problems can follow them for years. Greg Wessels>> If we all kind of think back to when we turned eighteen and where we were and were we ready, well, these are girls who sometimes have significant emotional issues that are in the same place and are on their own. Hena Cuevas>> So literally, they are by themselves. Greg Wessels>> They are by themselves. There are some casework services and some mental health services, but usually not enough. Hena Cuevas>> That's why he says their doors are always open, just like a family. Greg Wessels>> And I will always want the girls to know that, no matter what they do, as long as they are willing to come back and start on their problems again, we'll be here. Hena Cuevas>> Jennifer already has three jobs lined up and was accepted into Cal State Los Angeles. She wants to be either a first grade teacher or a dance instructor. But there's one thing she's still not ready to do: face her mother again. >> "So you're not ruling it out completely?" Jennifer De La Rosa>> "Right, but just not now. I'm not ready. I'm really not ready. I don't want to be rude about it. I just want to be calm and talk to her and go over it. Maybe she'll have answers this time, but I don't feel like it's going to hit me too hard, like it's something that I want, but I can't beg somebody to give me love or something that they don't have for me." Hena Cuevas>> The one person Jennifer longs to be reunited with is her older sister. Jennifer De La Rosa>> That's one of the things that kills me because we grew up together and it's like now we're just apart. It's like I feel that I need her and I know that she needs me too. Hena Cuevas>> With her low-rent apartment, jobs and college classes, Jennifer has a good chance at making it. But should she slip and fall again, she knows the doors are always open at Rosemary's. I'm Hena Cuevas for Life and Times. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> Relations are slowly improving between the Chinese American community and the MTA. You may recall that, a couple of years ago, when MTA construction crews uncovered gravesites near Chinatown, that upset local leaders who said that the MTA had mishandled the remains. Well, now the MTA has agreed to re-inter the remains. Still, it's a sad chapter in our history, as Anne McDermott tells us. [Film Clip] Anne McDermott>> That's a crew from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or MTA, working near Evergreen Cemetery in East Los Angeles. Eventually, all this dirt and debris will be transformed into the nearly nine hundred million dollar extension to the Gold Line light rail system. The project is supposed to be completed in 2009, but it did run into delays this past summer. That happened when MTA crews were digging into the ground near an old Potter's Field just outside Evergreen. And as they dug, they began finding remains, human remains, bones and more dating from the late 1800s and the early 1900s. Sherri Gust>> "On June 23, the next day, shallow grading was attempted in an adjacent area. The bone was encountered in the first few minutes and grading was shut down." Anne McDermott>> That's Sherri Gust, one of the archaeologists called in by the MTA once the bodies were discovered. Eventually, authorities found one hundred twenty-eight full and partial gravesites and Gust and her crew determined that at least nineteen of the bodies were Asian and maybe more. Eighty-three of the remains were so deteriorated that they defied immediate identification. Sherri Gust>> "So this is another picture of a burial we recovered showing the skull preserved. You can see they're not six feet deep. They're about three feet deep in most cases." Anne McDermott>> What else did they find? Bits and pieces of a Chinese laborer's life. Treasured rice bowls and spoons and ornaments and other mementos interred along with their owners. All work by the MTA ceased during this recovery project as the pitiful skulls and bones were brought up and taken away to a lab in Orange County. But it would be six months before Los Angeles's Chinese community, now four hundred thousand strong, was notified about the bodies and they're angry about that and they vented at a community meeting last month. Daisy Ma>> "Six months? I mean, I'm sorry, it's not acceptable to us. We're not going to take it." Anne McDermott>> For the Chinese American Angelenos who worked so hard at preserving the city's Chinese heritage, the MTA's delay was painful and ultimately perhaps foolish. According to Irvin Lai, the MTA should have reached out to the Chinese community at the first glimpse of a rice bowl or Asian coin. Irvin Lai>> "We can help you with that stuff. That's the reason why the Chinese community is so frustrated because this is not just one or two graves. There's almost two hundred graves and people are asking me now, "Where is my grandfather's grave?" Anne McDermott>> Where indeed? And who are these Chinese dead? To find some of the answers, we must go back to Evergreen. Evergreen is an old graveyard. See how its angels are aging? But today, it's still a final destination for the dead of Los Angeles and here you'll find the rich and poor, black and white, and Latino and -- well, you get the idea. It's a democracy of the dead. But back when it was new, back in 1877, this was the end for the city's elite. Oh, there were some poor folk here, but not in the cemetery proper. They were relegated to a tiny Potter's Field just outside Evergreen, a place for those with nothing and no one. And in an even tinier corner of that Potter's Field were the Chinese. They weren't penniless, but they were Chinese, the lepers of their day, so they were unwelcome in Los Angeles's stores or schools or cemeteries. They were, however, welcome to work. They came to work the railroad and then they came to dig. Jane Cheung is with the Chinese American Museum. Jane Cheung>> During the 1800s when the Gold Rush came about in California, many Chinese laborers immigrated to the United States in search of trying to strike it rich and trying to seek better opportunity. Anne McDermott>> The ten thousand Chinese laborers who'd come to Los Angeles by the turn of the century worked hard, very hard, but most didn't get rich and most of them wound up doing California's dirtiest work, the backbreaking, low-paying, menial jobs that no one else would do. And so they worked and died and were buried outside of Evergreen. Decades went by. The Potter's Field was filled, then closed. Ownership changed, development came and, in the meantime, bodies were dug up, some for reburial in China, some for who knows where? But they were all gone, weren't they? [Film Clip] Anne McDermott>> No, they weren't gone. For some reason, likely lost to the mist of time, some bodies remained, Chinese bodies. MTA officials have said they didn't notify any community groups about the remains until archaeologists finished their work. Why did they dig near Evergreen? Well, MTA officials said they dug in the area near Evergreen only after being assured by their experts that the crews would encounter no problems such as digging up bodies. They were wrong, but the MTA's Dennis Mori says those experts were working from the best available information they could find. But the fact remains that there were bodies there and you didn't know it. Dennis Mori>> Well, it appears that nobody knew that they were there. Even with the Chinese Historical Society, they commented that we've helped them to rediscover or discover the ancient Chinese cemetery that they've been looking for for over eighteen years. Anne McDermott>> But surely Chinese Historical Society members would have preferred that the cemetery was discovered some other way, any other way than by bulldozers dredging up bone after bone. And the MTA meanwhile is urging the Chinese community in Los Angeles to help them decide upon an appropriate monument to these long-lost Chinese laborers. There will also be a proper reburial ceremony, though it's not yet known where or when. Now some might be wondering who really cares about all this. What does it matter to anyone outside the Chinese community? But a lot of people do care, people like community activist, Sofia Quinones, who wonders if this could ever happen to her father or grandfather, her cherished family members. Sofia Quinones>> It's the desecration of, you know, families. Anne McDermott>> Irvin Lai says he sees another reason for all of us to care about what the bulldozers dug up. The reason is history, our history. Irvin Lai>> This is not Chinese history. This is American history. I want them to understand that. Anne McDermott>> And to understand and embrace the idea of how a despised group of lowly workers, all but invisible in the city they lived and worked in, are finally in death being accorded the dignity and honor they deserve. Anne McDermott for Life and Times. Val Zavala>> Since that story first aired, about fifteen percent of the gravesites have been confirmed to be those of Asians and, despite exhaustive efforts by the MTA, no descendants have been identified. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Larry Mantle>> Welcome to FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC. Our first film this week is "Perfect Stranger". It stars Halle Berry and Bruce Willis. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> I'm joined this week by critics Jean Oppenheimer of Village Voice Media, and Andy Klein of City Beat and Valley Beat. Andy, what did you think of "Perfect Stranger"? Andy Klein>> Oh, don't get me started, Larry (laughter). "Perfect Stranger" is just so aesthetically offensive to me. It's this alleged thriller with Halle Berry as an investigative reporter. A friend of hers from childhood disappears, gets murdered, and she thinks that it was done by an incredibly wealthy ad man played by Bruce Willis, so she's going to nail him. She's helped out by her assistant, Giovanni Ribisi, who's been madly in love with her and there's all kinds of tension on that. This is a film where, first of all, Halle Berry in the first minutes, her performance is actually bad. I mean, not just not good, but bad. She gets a little better, but by the end of the film, in order to bend plot twists, they have done stuff that is in such bad faith with the audience that it's worse than finding out that it was all a dream. It's that bad. Larry Mantle>> Our second film this week is based on the real life crime story of the Lonely Hearts Killers. "Lonely Hearts" stars John Travolta as the police detective who actually cracks the case. Salma Hayek and Jared Leto star as the couple who are the criminals and James Gandolfini plays the partner of Travolta's character. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> "Lonely Hearts", Jean? Jean Oppenheimer>> I thought this was a really uneven film. It excelled at some things and was weak at others. One of the things it's weakest at is creating the correct atmosphere for the film. I thought that it really lacked a certain tautness until later in the film when it gets a lot better towards the end of the film in terms of both the directorial and editing decisions that were made. Salma Hayek, I think, is always worth watching and I thought she was very good in this. I actually thought Travolta did a good job acting and playing a different character than he has recently in some of these stupid comedies that he's been in. I thought that the film actually worked quite well as a police procedural. I know that Andy and everybody else is going to be very upset about this, but I think it actually worked as a police procedural better than "Zodiac" did (laughter). Before I go to Andy, I'll just say that the best part of this story really is the backstory and, of course, you don't see any of that on the screen. Larry Mantle>> Andy? Andy Klein>> Yeah, I will not say that it was a better procedural than "Zodiac", absolutely (laughter). However, it is a good solid film. This is a story, the Beck-Fernandez murder cases, that has been filmed two or three times before. In 1970 as "The Honeymoon Killers" which has got a big cult following and there's also a Mexican version in 1996 by Arturo Ripstein called "Deep Crimson". Very good, but what they don't have is the director's perspective in that Bob Robinson, the director, is actually the grandson of the cop who broke the case. Whereas, those films tend to stay completely with the killers, here we cross-cut between them and Travolta and James Gandolfini as these cops and it gives you a different view of it. Whether it's a more insightful view, I'm not sure. But basically, it does bring something fresh to this story and that's valuable. Yeah, I thought Travolta was very good. He almost looked like Lawrence Tierney. He had this sort of truculent look to him. All the performers were good. Jared Leto as Ray Fernando was a kind of a revelation to me. Larry Mantle>> Third up this week is the Scottish thriller, "Red Road". [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> Andy Klein, "Red Road"? Andy Klein>> Yeah, this is sort of a thriller. It's interesting. It's kind of a mystery, kind of a thriller, but at heart, it's more of a character piece. I mean, this is not, you know, people jumping out of the dark at you. It's not that kind of film. An actress named Kate Dickie, who I've never seen in anything before, does a terrific job as this woman who is part of the police force in Glasgow in a neighborhood that's so bad that they have cameras mounted on all the roofs and she sits there watching a bank of television monitors. One day while watching and calling for backup for various crimes, she spots somebody who obviously means something in her past and she gets obsessed and starts basically stalking this guy obsessively. They string out really letting us know what the connection was, but meanwhile, she actually sort of goes towards being involved with him in a way that's very ambiguous. It's a wonderfully acted piece. It's very, very low key. So if you're looking for, you know, "Don't Answer the Phone" or that kind of thing (laughter), it's not that kind of thriller. Larry Mantle>> Jean? Jean Oppenheimer>> I also thought the film was uneven. I thought the acting was very good and I would say that this woman's relationship with the person she's stalking is very disturbing, which is an important element which comes out later in the film. I think that a lot of the film is very well done in terms of like the cinematography really brings out the mood and the tone of the film. You have a lot of very tight shots on individuals, but they use a long lens so that everything in the background is out of focus. Or they might have the person in the front out of focus and the back in focus. It just creates this sort of creepy sense, like you're always expecting something to happen that will be frightening, so I thought that worked. I do think that there are parts in the middle of it that do get boring. It just keeps going before it gives you enough information to take the next step. So uneven, but good. Larry Mantle>> And finally this week, we have the documentary, "The Ritchie Boys". It tells the story of young German Jewish boys who come to the United States as émigrés and then go to work for the United States military seeking to undermine the S.S. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> "The Ritchie Boys", Jean? Jean Oppenheimer>> Larry, I really found this a wonderful documentary. I'm really high on it. The men who were part of this military unit were predominantly Jewish men, German, Austrian, French, who had been able to get out of Europe before the war in the early 1930s and they really wanted to fight fascism. They all joined the American Army and they offered something really unique to the military in that they spoke fluent German and they knew the psychology of their countrymen. This gave them a sort of unique insight into the enemy. Their exploits themselves are really fascinating. You see a lot of archival footage, but one thing that really helps the film is just how delightful some of these octogenarians now are. Most became American citizens. Many of them are intellectuals who became academics. There's one, Fred Howard, who's a big back-slapping guy. He reminded me of Jerry Orbach or Walter Matthau. His best friend at Ritchie was this short, kind of shy kind of intellectual guy named Guy Stern. They're a wonderful Mutt and Jeff pair. Larry Mantle>> And that does it for another FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC joined by critics Andy Klein of City Beat and Valley Beat, and Jean Oppenheimer of Village Voice Media. From all of us at FilmWeek on Life and Times, thanks for joining us. We'll talk with you next week. Val Zavala>> KPCC broadcasts a longer version of FilmWeek on Fridays at eleven a.m. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everybody at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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