Came across this film on Netflix and enjoyed every minute. Laughed and cried. The acting was so realistic and the characters really drew me in. I was surprise home d that I had not been aware of "Hector" before and was pleased to find it. The film brought home the different reasons for becoming homeless and made me and my husband think deeper about how society help. I think that this film should be shown in schools to raise awareness.

***several spoilers, so don't read if You want to be negat. surprised ***1.The homeless Peter get's a hitchhike ride by a Maserati Ghibli on the highway which is highly unrealistic. Usually those with old trash cars give a ride not luxury car drivers of a fairly new car (if it's only the bad smell and dirty clothes of those riders.2. Peter sleeps on the floor of a handicapped toilet in shopping mall and the white young cleaning man excuses himself for waking Peter up. Usually rough words would be uttered. And the cleaner would be either brown or black, at least not a young red-haired British.3. All people at the shelter are expressively friendly, the opposite is true in reality.4. Bad script, storyplay and dialogues.5.Total waste of precious time of the viewers. Watch it only for Gina McKee from "The Croupier". She can't save the story because director didn't give her the main role of the female social worker. And Peter the homeless is a lousy actor.Finally 1 star out of 10 is too much. I would give the film 0 star or even go into the minus 5 area. Sorry but this is my honest opinion. I hope director didn't receive government money and if should be forced to pay back.

Peter Mullan ('Tyrannosaur') plays the eponymous 'Hector' in this film. He is sleeping rough in some part of Scotland with two friends and it is deep winter. He is in failing health but seems to just carry on eking out an existence.The film follows him on a journey from Scotland to London to a temporary Christmas shelter that he has been attending for years. Here he knows people and sees it as a sort of family. And family is the one thing he has been running from but now feels it is time to reconnect with those from his past. Now this is a simple story on first looking at it – but the complexities that lead a person to any given point in their life are never so straightforward and that is the case here too. The film reveals at a slow pace but with absolute charm. This is the sort of film that moves you with its sheer force of story telling and sense of human frailty and as such is a wonderful piece of cinema that I can only recommend.

Hector has been living in and around the motorways for the last 15 years. His once comfortable family life has been replaced by a never-ending tour of service stations that offer him shelter, anonymity, washing facilities and food. The narrative centres around his journey south from Scotland on his annual pilgrimage to a temporary Christmas shelter in London where he finds comfort, friendship and warmth. Over the course of his odyssey, Hector decides to reconnect with his long estranged past. As his previous life catches up with him, the story of how he came to be leading an alternative life begins to emerge......When we first meet the titular character, he is cleaning himself up in a service station lavatory, and I was sure that he was late for an interview, because this man doesn't dress like you stereotypical 'homeless person'.And this is the fundamental message that this film carries. We walk past these people on a daily basis, usually ignoring them or hoping you don't make eye contact with them, but this film is saying that these people have a story, these people have a life, and in Hectors case, these people have a lot of self respect.Mullan is terrific as the titular character, one of the most sincere characters he's ever played, if you've seen some of his performances, you know he can be truly terrifying. This is another terrific aspect to the film. Because of the actors career, you instantly think that Hector has the potential to 'kick off', so all the different situations Hector finds himself in always have a certain air of tension.And these situations act as a sort of anthology mini film as we follow the story complete. Some of his encounters are kind, some are bitter, and some are downright embarrassing for the people he encounters, but never once does Hector resent anybody or anything.This is a man who has literally lost everything, so in some strange way, he's at peace with the world.Even though the film is set at Christmas, it's not trying to be your atypical Christmas movie, with a saccharine ending, it's just a pleasant film about a pleasant character who unfortunately has been labelled by society.Worth seeing.