By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Heidi Ewing | Rachel Grady
Country: kenya, united_states
Year: 2005
Running time: 84
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325675/combined
Bruce says: “Twenty African-American boys, age 12, are selected each year to attend a two year program in Kenya. The Baraka School was built buy money from The Abel Foundation in Baltimore as an experiment to save some of Baltimore’s children from a sure fate. In Baltimore 76% of the African-American males never graduate from high school. The boys who are picked to go to Africa are generally poor achievers or come from troubled homes.
“Filmakers Ewing and Grady follow one class of boys for two years. They judiciously whittled down their scope so that BOYS OF BARAKA is focused on four boys from three families. By the end of the film we understand where these kids have come from and where they might be headed. Each of the families opened the door to their homes and we get a solid understanding what home life is like. We see the boys in school in Baltimore and follow them through their first grueling year in Kenya.
“Richard and Romesh are brothers. Their father is in prison. Devon is raised by his grandmother. His mother has drug and prison problems that are always issues but never precisely defined. Devon decided at the age of nine that he wanted to be a preacher and he is unwavering in attaining that goal. We cannot doubt Devon. Montrey’s a smart kid who thinks he can break away from the life he was born into. Montrey requires lots of anger management for he does not always get along with the other kids. In one very telling sequence in Kenya, Montrey and the boy he has been fighting with are taken to a hilltop and are handed a tent. The two fighters suddenly have a project and a common goal. It is beautiful to watch them accomplish something without fisticuffs.
“Richard at the age of twelve has only attained second grade reading and math skills. During the year in Kenya, he makes great strides in closing the gap to become age appropriate. He lacks confidence and has motivation problems, neither very helpful in learning surrounded by inner city culture. Romesh is a plodder and slowly improves but he has a smaller gap to close.
“The film is put together using many warm and interesting vignettes. The viewer slowly gains hope that these kids may survive and amount to something. We are told the Baraka graduation rate is very high. Suddenly the plug is pulled. The Abel Foundation decides that the African experiment is not producing the results they had hoped and, as the kids are preparing to return to Kenya, they cancel the second year of school for the boys we have come to know. So it is back to the inner city schools, the very
places that were not serving these kids well in the first place. Devon takes it all in stride; Romesh is resigned but determined to continue learning. Montrey becomes a math whiz. Richard flounders. To him this is just another sign of how the world has failed him and what he can expect as he passes through adolescence into adulthood. It’s hard not to see his point of view. 3.5 cats
“BOYS OF BARAKA was shown as part of the 2005 Woodstock Film Festival.”