Carts of Darkness

Carts of Darkness is a documentary by Murray Siple from the NFB in Canada that premiered in Sundance Festival this summer. Just imagine the Trailer Park Boys on steroids but in real life. These guys in Vancouver collect cans and bottles and cart down steep hills of North Vancouver. Perilous living in the streets is dangerous and these extreme street carters take their lives in their hands as some cart down streets where cars lurk without warning and occasionally hit the homeless carters. No matter how low your spirit goes in the flesh world there will always be men who challenge the world around them. Carts of Darkness is an allegory of discarded cans at the same time about discarded men who still have value just like the cans they collect. Their world secluded from the brim of daily grind of homeowners along the steep hills they cart daily. The challenge of the hill drives them from despair.

Murray Siple’s feature-length documentary follows a group of homeless men who have combined bottle picking with the extreme sport of racing shopping carts down the steep hills of North Vancouver. This subculture depicts street life as much more than the stereotypes portrayed in mainstream media. The film takes a deep look into the lives of the men who race carts, the adversity they face and the appeal of cart racing despite the risk. Shot in high-definition and featuring tracks from Black Mountain, Ladyhawk, Vetiver, Bison, and Alan Boyd of Little Sparta.