Beauty Leaves the Bricks

In 1980, Cynthia Salzman Mondell and her husband Allen made a documentary about four black teenage girls growing up in the West Dallas projects called Beauty in the Bricks (also available for $79.95, from Media Projects). 15 years later they returned to find out what happened to these (now) women. The focus of the earlier film (and many scenes are incorporated into the new one) was on the quartet's involvement in the Girl's Club, a social program which offered an alternative to the dangers of street life. In Beauty Leaves the Bricks, the four women--Karen, Tina, Michelle, and Teresa--and the Girl Club's former director Audrey Hinton, recall life during the teen years in "the bricks," praise the strong positive influence that the Girl's Club had on their adolescent years, and talk about their lives as women entering their 30s. As in any documentary about a group of real people filmed over time, the years bring a few broken dreams: Michelle didn't realize her goal of becoming an actress (but she hasn't given up either); Karen, who was accepted to a performing arts school at the close of the first film, dropped out shortly thereafter (but she's back in school now). The film effectively raises the question of what would have been the fate of these girls without the support network that the Girl's Club provided, and therein lies its chief value--as a discussion starter for exploring worthwhile social programs. But this is not a gripping documentary about the variability of human existence like Michael Apted's 35 Up. Recommended for larger collections. (R. Pitman)