ACTOR Richard Gere visited Madrid this week to promote his new film, where he plays a homeless vagrant in New York, and was full of praise for the Spanish capital's mayoress Manuela Carmena.
Gere attended the pre-première showing of Invisibles with his new Spanish girlfriend, businesswoman Alejandra Silva, and invited 70 homeless people from the Rais Foundation based in Madrid.
After watching the film, they told Gere that what they had seen on screen was 'the gritty reality' of their own lives.
A far cry from his role as multi-millionaire tycoon in one of his earliest and best-remembered films, Pretty woman, Richard Gere talked to the audience about his part in Invisibles and spent practically the whole of his press conference attempting to raise awareness of homeless people's situation.
The film was produced by Gere himself, and took nearly a decade to bring to fruition.
Known for being a social activist with a strong humanitarian drive, Gere's passionate speech about the plight of those living on the street was punctuated with equally-strong praise for Madrid's mayoress, a left-wing ex-judge who has been fighting hard to prevent home repossessions and has even planned to replace the city's 'anti-tramp benches', which have arm-rests in the middle to prevent vagrants from sleeping on them.
“Repossessing someone's property and throwing them out of their home is amoral and immoral,” stated Gere emphatically.
“It's not even practical, because it costs much more money than it would by trying to reach a solution before it gets to that stage.”
Of Manuela Carmena, the actor said: “I've been told you have a very good mayor now who wants to solve these problems in the most humane and responsible way, using public funds in an intelligent manner. I applaud this mayor.”
He called for the public to 'think about' those without a home, and called upon society to 'pledge to try to improve things'.
“We can change the world, and we can do it together.”
Gere even joked about 'killing bank managers' who repossess homes.
The Hollywood veteran also had strong opinions on the air-strikes in Syria and Iraq by the west in a bid to wipe out the so-called Islamic State, or DAESH, and which have increased dramatically since the Friday 13th killing spree in Paris.
“Revenge never helped anyone,” he stated. “I don't believe it has ever helped in any situation, in any way, or any of the parties involved. It might briefly make you feel better, but in the long run, it's no help.”
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com