Streetwise

In 1984 the documentary Streetwise was inspired by a July 1983 Life magazine article called “Streets of the Lost" by Cheryl McCall and photographed by Mary Ellen Mark. After cultivating connections with several of the teenagers for the article, Mary Ellen Mark convinced her husband Martin Bell to make a documentary on the lives of the destitute kids living on the street. Streetwise follows the lives of several teens including Erin (aka Tiny), Dewayne, Rat, Shellie, Pattie, Munchkin, Shadow, Lulu and Kim

This documentary is like watching a fictional drama instead of real homeless kids living their lives. Martin Bell does not have a blatant argument in his film. The film does not only address homelessness, it deals with the issues of parenting and education.

Bell makes sure to capture the teenagers in a way that strips them of their innocence, showing what the harshness of the streets has made them into. Optimal shots where Bell strongly depicts their lost innocence are when they are carelessly smoking, cussing, or trying to make money as panhandlers or prostitutes which are shown heavily in the film. There are hardly any adults shown in the film, thus making the teenagers look even more vulnerable.

The adults that are shown are the parents of Tiny and Dewayne. Bell incorporates them to depict how they struggle as parents to suggest a correlation between their bad decisions and judgments that directly effects their children. The parents showcased know the conditions of where their children live and what they do on a daily basis yet do not act upon it because they struggle everyday as well.

At the end of the film, there is not a resolution to the teen's situations.