In the past years filmmakers have used various conflicts in Africa as major plot points in their films. The results can be powerful, but somewhere in the backs of viewers’ minds lies the lingering realization that the pretty-boy actor or gorgeous female lead has a nice, large home somewhere in California, diminishing the message of the film.”Invisible Children” takes a different approach, if for no other reason than the three young creators of the project have almost no experience in filmmaking. The intrepid documenters, Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole, set off to Africa with a mindset that seems to be aimed more at adventure than helping people, but this changes after a short time in Uganda.
They begin what becomes a documentary by filming themselves goofing off and looking like generally aloof tourists, affirming their claim that they did not shoot this footage in hopes of turning it into a documentary, but rather as a home movie of sorts. The humorous interactions between the three men do not last long, though, and melt away rapidly once the crew begins catching glimpses of the destitution and fear imbued in endless African faces.
Once the scenes of war and poverty set in, one interesting and original element of the film fades away. Seeing the reactions and interactions of the filmmakers at the beginning of the movie adds a different spin on this look into the atrocities in Sudan and Uganda. The relative innocence of the three men is shown profusely before they arrive in the rougher parts of Africa, but once they are there they disappear from the lens altogether.
It would have maintained a personal touch to the documentary if the filmgoers were allowed to see the change in the Americans, to see the shock on these young San Diego boys’ faces, but sadly this aspect is absent, although it can be slightly felt through the camerawork and the courses of the interviews.
The editing in most of the movie is quick and often abrupt, but the point is not lost on the bumpy road. Clips from interviews accompany scenes of children dancing and playing, despite the imminent danger around them every day. One segment presents a string of teenage casualties to one of the best uses of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” in film history, and that song is used in nearly every movie.
The amateurish editing takes a backseat to the presentation of life in Uganda. Rebels travel around the country, picking up children and brainwashing them into becoming hardened soldiers, completely desensitized to violence.
To illustrate these travesties, brutal crayon drawings, obviously the work of children, depict kids carrying weapons and killing their countrymen. These simple drawings illicit almost as much shock as viewing the frightening acts themselves.
Seeing the proof of the Ugandan children’s tragically warped minds would unnerve the most hardened American combat veteran, but for some reason it has become the norm in parts of Africa.
Recently, films such as “Hotel Rwanda” and “Blood Diamond” have displayed the waning of childhood in Africa, but seeing Don Cheadle and Leonardo DiCaprio lessens the impact of the images shown in those films. Don’t look for any A-listers here. This is the real, current Uganda, and some of these children have to lug AK-47s around with them.
They cram together with hundreds of other children in abandoned bus parks just to have a safe place to sleep, and they dig through garbage to find makeshift condoms. Children as young as 10 have already lost brothers and sisters, saying they would rather be dead and with their loved ones than alive and in the hellhole they trudge through every day.
The filmmakers have put together something significant. The images of war-torn kids linger in the mind for days. Instead of making a message film and blaming all the problems in Africa on the west as Hollywood likes to do, they relate a real story of the tragedies and lost childhoods of Ugandans. Not only that, but they’ve also started a campaign (www.invisiblechildren.com) to raise money and give aid to these children.
It would be interesting to see how many rings were bought with money earned by “Blood Diamond.”
INVISIBLE CHILDREN
Not Rated
THE VERDICT:
Despite inexperienced filming, “Invisible Children” impressively displays the incredibly hard lives of African children in the middle of a civil war.
3/4 stars