"They come because they're desperate. They need money, for whatever reason. Where else are they gonna get money? You don't see the way the poor people live until you come here and see it." - David Woolfson, owner, A1 Trading
It's not a pretty picture, but it's one powerful depiction of reality. A1 Trading, a pawnshop in Edmonton's inner city, is the bank of last resort for junkies desperate for $10, out-of-work men who have to pawn their equipment, and two elderly Aboriginal ladies who need a bit of money for food. Woolfson, a crusty old Jewish immigrant from South Africa, had run the shop for 16 years when Chris Hoard, a troubled young Aboriginal man, started assisting him-for free. Rosie Dransfeld brilliantly captures the relationship between the soft-hearted Woolfson and Hoard, a self-confessed ex-con and psychopath, while her cinéma-vérité style draws us deep into Broke's world of bargaining, insults, and desperation.