"Streetwise"

Image Credit: Martin Bell

This documentary was probably my favorite of all the documentaries we have screened this semester. I loved the very realistic portrayal of poverty in the 1980's. Bell seemed to give a holistic view of the lives of these street children, without much bias, to argue that poverty is a vicious cycle that perpetuates over time.

Dewayne, one of the main characters in the film, was first shown begging for money on the streets to feed himself in the opening scenes. Later, the abandoned building he called home was shown, along with the ways he rummaged for food and tried to get by day to day. A little over halfway through the film, Bell revealed that Dewayne's father was imprisoned. And finally, at the end of the movie after Dewayne hangs himself, the narrator comments that all Dewayne really wanted was love, a family, and the life of a "normal" child. I think that all of the children shown in this movie deeply longed for each of these things (along with all the riches in the world).

However, simply having a mom or a dad did not mean that love was a part of a child's life or that life was "normal". For example, Erin had a mom, yet I would not say that she had "love". I would also be hesitant to say that she had guidance. In one of the first scenes, she was shown at the doctor's office getting checked out for yet another sexually transmitted disease. Being a prostitute to earn money, she naturally acquired these STDs. And despite her mother knowing that she was out on the streets selling her body, she did nothing to stop her daughter. I also found it appalling when Erin made the comment that she had no idea who her father is and he could "possibly be someone that she had gotten for a date at one time".

The lives that these children lived were a result of their upbringing. Due to having no family and very little money, these children were forced to make ends meet any way that they could (whether it be through prostitution, drug abuse, eating out of dumpsters, selling blood using a fake ID, or through violence). If these children were lucky enough to live into adulthood, this lifestyle and the things they learn from their childhood would stay with them and would impact the way that they raise their children. This makes poverty a cycle that seems to have no end in sight.