STREETWISE (1984)

 Documentary about messed-up kids living on the streets in Seattle back in the 80's.  Not a scripted movie, there's no narration like a typical doc and you as the viewer are just given a little view into the lives of some pretty unfortunate young people.  Everything is told from their point of view.  14 year old prostitutes, suicidal runaways, dumpster-diving degenerates and your more typical hopeless human throwaways.  I recall watching this movie on PBS years ago and it works well as liberal propaganda to show how messed up our society is on the bottom rungs.  Not having any particular political agenda myself I just enjoyed seeing the spotlight on a segment of society that most comfortable Americans would rather never think about.  Reality in general seems to bore most middle-class folks as they submerge themselves in their fake "reality-TV" and make-believe "news" programs.  Things like this would play all the time if TV really meant anything but anyone who bothers to think about it knows that isn't the case.
 I was curious about the one older pot-smokin' hippie-looking guy, Jack. that hung out with one of the little kids.  His story was never really told except for saying he was a guy you could trust.  I guess he was too old to focus on in this but I kinda wanted the camera to follow him around.
 The director of this, Martin Bell, went on to make a more Hollywood-ized/"real movie" version of this called AMERICAN HEART with Eddie Furlong but I doubt it would be nearly as interesting.