With STREETWISE, director Martin Bell, producer Cheryl McCall, and photographer Mary Ellen Mark created a singular documentary, one that gave voice to Seattle’s street children, rather than pumping in a ton of voiceover and context.
The fact is that Seattle was hit pretty hard in the 1970s, with unemployment reaching as high as 13% in the early ‘80s (three times the national average) and weakening labor power driving more and more people out on the street. Gen X was barely coming of age when many of them saw the lives their hippie parents led — one where post-World War II affluence afforded them a safety net while they railed against ‘the Man’ — and rejected it wholesale, often choosing a life on the streets instead of falling in line.
The affected youths in STREETWISE are cynical, strong-willed, wise well beyond their years, and, in an uncomfortable way, wildly entertaining. It’s impossible not to empathize, even though our perspective is inherently voyeuristic.
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Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Take Care Of All My Children" by Tom Waits from the STREETWISE soundtrack.
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