As Good As It Gets

A Major Disappointment

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Martin Bell, a one time photojournalist, directs "Streetwise", an influential documentary which charters the lives of various kids and teenagers living rough on the streets of 1980s Seattle. The film watches as Seattle's poor play, steal, do drugs, starve, chat, discuss their fears, hopes and anxieties. The filmmakers do their best to refrain from commenting on what is shown on screen, but some of the film's moments are obviously staged, and one can see "Streetwise's" editors struggling to force some discernible "structure" or "narrative arc" upon their raw footage. The film doesn't delve into more sordid areas – violence, prostitution, exploitation and drug use are hinted at but never explicitly shown – perhaps because the film's subjects did not sufficiently trust Bell's documentary crew. Many subsequent "hard hitting" documentaries have superseded "Streetwise" in this respect."You are looking at something so horrific and yet what you're getting as a filmmaker is incredible," Bell would say of his footage in interviews, crystallising the ethical tug-of-war documentaries like this frequently exhibit. Still, lined up next to Larry Clark's work (his photo-albums "Tulsa", "Teenage Lust", and his later films revolving around teenagers), this is a fairly restrained, low-key picture."The ignorance of non professional actors is an advantage, not a handicap," Vittorio De Sica would write in "How I Direct My films". De Sica was one of the premiere names in early neo realism, a movement whose aim was to "reformulate an existing cinematic grammar in order to condemn the political or sociological play-script of post-war Italy". The movement aimed to shine a light on the under-classes, to find the spectacle within the drudgery of everyday life. The movement and its hybrids died off in the early 1970s, at which time documentary cinema took off. You might say works like "Streetwise", and many subsequent documentaries since, are all that remains of the neo-realist movement.Of course it's hard to watch "Streetwise" today and not think of Ronald Reagan. Reagan came to office in 1981 with a mandate to reduce federal spending. In reality he increased it through an escalating military budget, all the while slashing funds for domestic programs that assisted working class and impoverished Americans. Under his leadership the income gap between the rich and the poor widened staggeringly, wages for the average worker declined and the nation's homeownership rate fell. During Reagan's two terms in the White House, which were boon times for the rich, the poverty rate in cities grew. Meanwhile, he'd presided over the dramatic deregulation of the nation's savings and loan industry, which would lead to rampant commercial real estate speculation. The result was widespread corruption, mismanagement and the collapse of hundreds of institutions. This led to a taxpayer bailout that cost hundreds of billions of dollars.By the end of Reagan's first term in office, federal assistance to local governments was cut 60 percent. Reagan eliminated general revenue sharing to cities, slashed urban programmes, funding for public service jobs and job training, almost dismantled federally funded legal services for the poor, cut the anti-poverty Community Development Block Grant program and reduced funds for public transit.By the end of Reagan's second term, federal aid was cut to almost nothing. This was devastating for urban schools, libraries, municipal hospitals, clinics, and public service departments. All the while he'd engage in a programme to stigmatise the poor. During his speeches, in which he proudly rolled back social welfare, Regan cooked up "welfare bogeymen", poor people who were "busy scamming and ripping off the government". The imagery of "welfare cheats" persists to this day, and would lay the groundwork for numerous subsequent welfare reform laws, all of which pander to class hate and pit the middle-classes against the poor.By the time Reagan left office, the number of homeless persons on America's streets had risen to over one and a half million, many veterans and children. Reagan would defend this on an episode of Good Morning America, resorting to a classic bit of blame-the-victim Social Darwinism, saying that "people who are sleeping on the grates...the homeless...they're homeless, you might say, by choice." 8/10 – Somewhat dated, though hugely influential on the genre. See "On The Streets" by Penny Woolcock, a similar documentary set in a contemporary city. Worth one viewing.

Hey, Jen! How funny to see you on here! Love Ya!I personally love Streetwise. I've seen it a million times. My husband gets embarrassed whenever I show the movie, and hides in the other room. I am Rat's wife. We live in California, where he originally came from. It's funny that no one knows where he is. Martin and Maryellen still keep in contact and send Christmas cards. Anyway, Rat is alive and doing well. It just goes to show that eating garbage won't kill a person. It might just make them stronger. Janel

Great documentary. I watched it for a film class, and I would have to say the film-making was really quite amazing. I am shocked to see the extent of which these young teens have already experienced in their short lives. Martin does a great job at weaving these different characters lives in such a way as to show life on the streets from their point of view. WOW! I would have to say that this film reminds me of my response to Requiem for a Dream...loved it because it was brutally honest, hated it because the life on the streets is something that one can never change. I love Martin's capturing of typical street life.

This is a depressing record of Seattle which reveals the innaccuracy of many views of street kids. It shows people like Kim, who try to stand up for other kids, despite the fact she barely has her own two feet to stand on. It shows pimps who call themselves "playboys," street performers, people beating each other like mad, and the sort of bonding that would somehow ring false in any work of fiction. I can only imagine how a commentary track on this would be one of the most fascinating listens I've ever had. Highly recommended, though I'm sure some will view some scenes as having a lot of "kitsch."