最后一站 L’ultima fermata

"The Last Ride" is a documentary report produced as part of Il Fattore Umano (aka, The Human Factor, RAI - Italian Public Broadcasting). It is an immersive journey into the lives of America＇s last in line-the unhoused, the discarded, the invisible. Caught in a system devoid of safety nets, they are forced to survive in conditions of extreme marginalization. Through the voices of Darryn, Micheal, Javian, Lynda, and Thomas, we witness the fragile tipping points that led them here-one mistake, a stroke of bad luck, or simply the unforgiving indifference of a system that does not give a hand but turns its back. Echoing their struggles and resilience is the unmistakable voice of Tom Waits, who lends his gravitas to recitations from Seeds from the Hard Ground, amplifying the poetry of lives on society＇s edge. "The Last Ride" focuses on the Southern United States, where, between 2023 and 2024, the number of homeless individuals surged by over 18%, surpassing 800,000. The documentary is a journey through these forgotten communities, marked by stigma, neglect, and institutional violence. And yet, amid exclusion and hardship, a quiet, dignified humanity persists-a solidarity that finds ways to adapt, support one another, and salvage fragments of hope, even in the places the world has long since chosen to ignore.