Packrat

Distributed by Fanlight Productions, 32 Court St., 21st Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201; 800-876-1710Produced by Kris Britt MontagDirected by Kris Britt Montag2003, VHS, color, 28 min. Filmmaker Kris Britt Montag has created an initial look at the obsessive behavior of hoarding. The daughter of a hoarder, Montag experienced the trauma of dealing with her father’s “collections” after he died. Through interviews with hoarders, their spouses, their children and other family members, as well as responses from professionals who work with hoarders, Montag exorcises some personal demons and provides a glimpse into the world of hoarding. However, it is only a glimpse and while Packrat is a unique piece, ironically, it suffers from a lack of organization and information. The personal stories are informative, at times shocking, and even funny. One man’s 4800 square foot storage building filled with things he “might need someday” and his plans for a database to organize it all is symbolic of the film itself – there’s all this “stuff “here that needs culling and shaping to make it useful. On the other hand, perhaps it was the intent of the filmmaker to create a piece reflective of the disorder. Packrat is filled with loads of unanswered questions. The most important piece of information coming from the film is that there is a significant lack of understanding about and funding for hoarding - which leads to a lack of research and subsequently a lack of credible, documented facts. More background information, more professional opinions inserted throughout the piece and tighter editing would make this piece easier to digest and more useful for academe. Still, this program is recommended, largely because there are precious few others on hoarding out there. It does stand alone as an interesting film about a mostly ignored disorder too. In the educational setting it would serve as an introduction to a lecture or discussion at the first or second year college level.