Streetwise Movie Review

Both 1981's Pixote by Hector Babenco and 1984's Streetwise by Martin Bell offer a harsh portrait of the lives led by street children. Streetwise has deglamorized the runaway life for many young people who have seen Bell's movie, but for the Seattle children who appear in the film, life continues to run downhill. Erin, also known as Tiny, was one of the few participants who revealed genuine depth of feeling for the people in her life, but the pain reportedly led to more than one drug overdose. The others whistle in the dark by “pulling dates” between jail terms. We already know that Dewayne's imprisoned father loves him, but he can do nothing for his kid and Dewayne knows it. At another point, we see a mother excusing her husband's sexual abuse of her daughter (“Well, he isn't doing it anymore, is he?”). All the kids hear well-meaning, BandAids-over-gangrene solutions to their problems. Bell and Babenco attracted considerable reputations for their honesty in showing the toll of street hustling on the very young.

1984 92m/C D: Martin Bell; C: Cheryl McCall; M: Tom Waits. VHS, LV