Sidewalk - Mitchell Duneier

Mitchell Duneier wanted to know what the life of a street vendor was like at the intersection of Eighth Street, Greenwich Avenue, and Sixth Avenue. Introduced to the life of street vending by Hakim Hasan, “a book vendor and street intellectual,” Duneier became a street vendor in order to understand the life of one.  In the documentary, Sidewalk, Duneier is not seen on the sidewalk but instead you see the lives of Hakim, Alice, and some of the other vendors.  Their stories are as amazing on film as they are in the excerpt of his written work Sidewalk. Instead of solely interviewing an individual, he decided it was best to involve himself in the work he was interested in, and with the help of Hakim, he was able to do just that.  Getting involved allowed him to gain the trust of his subjects.  They trusted him to watch their merchandise while they stepped away from their tables, assist in their scavenging for new merchandise, and get coffee for them.  Some may think no one needs trust to do those things but considering the majority of the passerby who opposes their existence on “their” sidewalk, they aren’t able to trust many.  As the documentary shows, they learn to trust one another, and no one else, including the police.  Sidewalk documents the lives of Hakim and Alice, who at one point in their lives were romantically involved, but now, during the filming of Sidewalk, shared the sidewalk in Greenwich Village where they made their living by selling used books.  Hakim considered himself a “public character,” “...anyone who is in frequent contact with a wide circle of people and who is sufficiently interested to make himself a public character.”  Hakim is the perfect “public character.”  He doesn’t just sell the books, he reads them too.  He likes to converse with his buyers on the books they’re interested in.  Imagine walking into Borders and having someone who works there tell you about their favorite book and/or about the book you’re interested in purchasing, that is what Hakim offers his customers on the sidewalk.  Hakim’s story is one that is common among men like him, they are unable to get a job after receiving a college degree and so he finds himself, as an educated black man, selling books on the sidewalk to make money.  Alice’s story is a little different from Hakim’s.  From the documentary, it seems as though Alice was unable to find employment and so she joins Hakim on the sidewalk selling used books.  Alice and Hakim appear to be the most popular of the vendors.  The other vendors that are documented are either ex-drug addicts, current addicts, or ex-cons.  The ex-drug addicts and ex-cons are trying to build a life for themselves after their addiction or after being in prison.  The current addicts are trying to feed their habit.  A pair of friends, one no longer addicted to drugs, tries to help the other, who is still addicted, fight his habit, is also portrayed in the documentary.  Duneier also interviews those who opposes the vendor’s presence on the sidewalk.  Businessmen, local residents, and politicians, made it very clear that they were not in agreement with the city for allowing them to continue their vending on the streets of Greenwich Village.  Despite those who disagree, these vendors make a life for themselves (and perhaps their habits) and their families by providing the Greenwich Village community books at an inexpensive price.