Analysis: "Street Books"

Street Books is an American documentary based in Portland, Oregon. It was released in 2011 by Travis Shields.  The film documents the activities of Laura Moulton, a self-professed 'street librarian' who runs a 'bicycle-powered mobile library for people who live outside', giving homeless people the chance to read. The service is based entirely on trust. You can read more about Street Books and their efforts at streetbooks.org.

The film is beautifully shot, and begins with Laura setting up the library in the street and then follows her as she is visited by 'customers'. Attention is payed to detail, and we see lots of close-ups of books, the mobile library and its customers, as well as the surrounding areas she has set up in. These are specifically chosen to seem quite grand and and serene, which supports the films key message: that homeless people are more sophisticated than society assumes. 

Laura Moulton and the Street Books library

Originally used as a kickstarter film to raise money for the service, the film could be potentially biassed as it aims to show Street Books and homeless people in a positive light. For example, we are told that the service is based solely on trust, but we do not hear of any instances in which this trust has been broken. This again helps to portray homeless people in a more positive way that subverts the stereotypes held over such individuals. Regardless of its potentially constructionist nature, I feel that the film succeeds in representing both Street Books and their clientele as loving, respectable people. 

It seems to have been a successful film, as the campaign raised over $1,000 more than it had intended. Coupled with the touching subject and considered cinematography, I feel that Street Books is an accomplished, sophisticated and generally lovely little film.