Aggregate statistics give you a better view than documentaries, for obvious reasons. I could make a documentary about Mafia in Sicily that could make you convinced that you would have someone asking for protection money if you started a café in Denmark.
There are roughly 300k homeless in France and roughly 500k homeless in the US. France just hides it and pushes it to the banlieus.
You're right, homelessness was a bad example and documentaries can distort reality. There are still some things about the US that I dislike and at least partially seem to be the result of too much laissez faire capitalism, such as death by gun violence, opioid abuse, unaffordable rents in cities, few holidays and other negative work-life balance factors, high education costs, high healthcare costs, and an inhumane penal system.
There are roughly 300k homeless in France and roughly 500k homeless in the US. France just hides it and pushes it to the banlieus.