A bizarre documentary about the effects of the mortgage crisis in this Californian city. It is one of the first documentaries dealing with the economic crisis in a painful yet humorous way. Steve Payne followed some skateboarders in Fresno who had a new hobby since last year: skating in empty swimming pools of unsaleable homes. Fresno is one of the top 100 U.S. cities that are worst hit by the crisis and it rankes number 14 in the list of foreclosures. Across California tens of thousands of homes are unsaleable. The
clear water in its pools, two years ago the picture of American prosperity, is now - how symbolic - drained. The film would not be as interesting as it is, if not the skateboarding scenes mixed with interviews with people from the real estate world. The interviews with politicians, bankers and brokers provide the necessary background for the emergence of the mortgage catastrophe, everybodies contribution in it and the impact on homeowners and neighborhoods in Fresno. Many people bought homes only to get rich and now many people simply left. What remains is a desolate neighborhood only the skateboarders can have a field day.
