At age 7, Sandra Pankhurst was told by her parents that they wished they’d never adopted her. She was neglected and abused. She grew up and discovered she was transgender. She then worked as a prostitute for several years before she was raped. After that, she founded her trauma cleaning business, where she would clean up homicides, suicides, hoarding, meth labs, and the like. Through her work, she contracted a terminal lung condition. Now, she’s the subject of the deeply moving documentary Clean, directed by Lachlan McLeod.
The film divides its attention between the life story of Sandra and the goings-on of her business, Specialized Trauma Cleaning (STC) Services in Victoria, Australia. Most remarkable about the film’s subject and her employees is their unquestioned compassion for their clients. When cleaning the homes of hoarders and drug addicts, Sandra and her cleaners never judge or criticize their clients, choosing to see their humanity instead of their living situation. When one woman apologizes for the mess inside her home, Sandra insists that she and her crew like what they do because it helps changes people’s lives. As the STC cleaners work through the home, they carefully examine what should be kept; for example, Sandra finds some colorful sheets in the above woman’s home and decide they should be kept for the woman’s daughters. The resulting film is a beautiful and inspiring portrait of this magnificent woman, Sandra, and those who choose to follow in her footsteps.
A focus on trauma cleaners is such a smart choice for a documentary to cover because the job requires them to examine the lives of society’s neglected. Clean takes the viewer inside their homes to see their messes. The camera’s eye lingers on animal fecal matter, mice scurrying in fear, used syringes strewn about, and all the ugly details of the clients’ lives. In addition to the hoarders who need help getting their lives back on track, STC also routinely cleans the homes of people unable to take care of themselves, like one man who sustained brain damage after an accident almost twenty years prior to the documentary. The film adopts Sandra’s approach and treats these clients with care and humanity rather than exploiting them as other films might.
Despite her personal traumatic history, Sandra remains nonchalant and humorous throughout her interviews and time on the camera. It’s impossible not to fall in love with her, and the film, as she remains a beacon of resilience and strength even as her health is failing before the viewer’s eyes. McLeod needed only put a camera before her and he would have an excellent documentary, but his ever so slightly broadened scope to include the other cleaners paints a hopeful picture of the future of humanity. This is one of those films that genuinely makes you want to be a better person.
The job of a trauma cleaner is not an easy one, and it exacts a heavy price mentally. One cleaner named Brian discloses to his wife that the job has begun to take a toll on him. When the STC employees are being trained in crime scene cleaning, the instructor tells them that the biggest safety issue on the job is their mental health. The film shows the traumatic sites they’re exposed to, which include the aftermaths of homicides and suicides, but it also shows the company as a family that supports each other. They laugh and high five each other on the job, striking a balance between prioritizing their own mental health and maintaining the highly professional and nonjudgmental environment Sandra has established.
Clean does an excellent job of delicately telling the story of those impacted by trauma. The film, like the subjects, lacks any essence of a savior complex and seems completely motivated by a genuine desire to tell the story of a group of inspiring individuals. Though at times disturbing, it is incredibly uplifting and beautifully shot and told.
Clean was viewed in the Documentary Feature Competition section of SXSW 2022.
Director: Lachlan McLeod
Rated: NR
Runtime: 92m
Rating: 5 out of 5
Before we let you go, we have officially launched our merch store! Check out all of our amazing apparel when you click here and type in GVN15 at checkout for a 15% discount!
Emmy is a big fan of all things TV and movies. Among her current favorites are The Matrix, Midsommar, Titane, and Fleabag. Catch her on Letterboxd @ewenstrup !
