Review of Streetwise (1984) by Private U — 23 Aug 2008

Photographer Mary Ellen Mark and her filmmaker husband Martin Bell do an amazing job of delving into the lives of teenagers living on the streets of Seattle in the early 1980s. Mark and Bell had almost unlimited access to their subjects' lives and portray heartbreaking, real-life moments: a 14-year-old prostitute tells a doctor how badly she wants a baby, although she knows the father would be one of her clients; a 16-year-old boy visits his father in prison and hangs his head while his father berates him; another boy tells how he stopped calling his mother to tell her he was alright because he couldn't stand to hear her cry.

Both toughness and vulnerability characterize each subject, and their stories of growing up under conditions of abuse and neglect are depressingly similar. This documentary forces viewers to question their perceptions of what "family" means in America, and suggests, without going overboard, that the community these kids find on the streets is more supportive and cohesive than what they had with their parents and siblings.