Streetwise

One of the best documentaries of 1984 is director Martin Bell's chronicle of homeless youth on the streets of Seattle, Washington. It was made in conjunction with a July 1983 Life magazine article, "Streets of the Lost," by writer Cheryl McCall and photographer Mary Ellen Mark (who was Bell's wife). The film portrays the lives of nine teenagers—runaways, drug addicts, prostitutes, con artists, and thieves—thrown into a seedy, adult world at frighteningly young ages. Rat is a dumpster diver, DeWayne is a hustler, and Tiny is a teenage prostitute. These three focal characters and their friends are old beyond their years, fighting to make some kind of life for themselves on the streets of downtown Seattle. McCall and Mark chose Seattle because it had branded itself "America's most livable city," and they wanted to show how rampant homelessness was a national issue, even in America's most livable city. Incredibly, the film never feels exploitative, preachy, or sensationalistic. It's largely told in the Cinéma vérité style, with the filmmakers slowly dolling out information about these characters' parents. Streetwise was an eye-opening movie that got a lot of attention and was nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar. It's perhaps even more powerful forty years later than it was when it was first released.