Cinema Paradiso: Little Pink House - La casa del rio / Courtney Balaker

Una enfermera de un pequeño pueblo lidera a sus vecinos de clase obrera en su lucha por salvar sus hogares frente a los intereses políticos y corporativos que quieren dar la tierra a la Pfizer Corporation.

Inspirada en un libro basado en hechos reales, "La Casa del Río" nos muestra la historia de lucha de un vecindario contra los abusos políticos y corporativos.

 

 Susette Kelo’s Supreme Court case now has a Hollywood ending, just not the one she hoped for. What Kelo wanted when she took her case to the high court more than a decade ago was to get to stay in her little pink house in New London, Connecticut. The city was trying to force her out to make way for development, and Kelo didn’t want to go. 

The high court ruled against her.

Now Kelo’s story has been turned into a movie, “Little Pink House,” . It’s a movie she and those involved in the film hope will get people to think about the government’s power to take private property for public use. Governments can use that power, called eminent domain, as long as they fairly compensate owners.

Kelo, who was in Washington this week to speak about the film, said what city and state officials did “ripped our hearts out.”

Kelo wasn’t looking for a fight when she bought her house overlooking the Thames River in 1997 and had it painted Odessa Rose pink. Divorced and with five grown sons, she was looking for a place of her own. She found it in the 100-year-old cottage. Shortly after she moved in, pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer announced it would move in nearby, building a research facility that opened in 2001.

New London hoped Pfizer’s move could help revitalize the city and, with the help of a private nonprofit development corporation, sought to redevelop land near the facility. A hotel, housing, office space, restaurants and shopping were planned. To get it done, the city authorized the use of eminent domain.

Kelo thought that was wrong, and she and a small group of other homeowners took on the city. They acknowledged eminent domain could be used to take their homes for public uses such as a road or military base, but they argued the planned development didn’t count.

“She was just fearless,” said Catherine Keener, who plays Kelo in the movie. “She took on everybody.”

Kelo had help. The Virginia-based Institute for Justice represented her and the other homeowners. The group was also instrumental in the new movie’s making, bringing a book about the case to the attention of filmmakers Courtney Moorehead Balaker and Ted Balaker.

Courtney Balaker, the movie’s writer and director, said she was “blown away” by Kelo’s case but also by Kelo herself. She compared her story to that of Erin Brockovich, a nonlawyer and divorced mother of three who took on utility company PG&E over contaminated groundwater in Hinkley, California, inspiring a 2000 movie. One big difference: Brockovich won.

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