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copyright ©1999-2007 |
Plot synopsis Stuck in the overcrowded, underfunded public school system of crime-ridden Baltimore, an estimated 75% of the city’s large African-American male population never graduates from high school. With insufficient education, their opportunities are severely limited: many end up addicted to drugs, in jail, or dead by violent means. In an attempt to give just a few of these young boys a fighting chance at avoiding such fates, a novel program sprang up back in the 90s. The Baraka School offered 20 handpicked middle-school-age Baltimore boys the opportunity to go to Africa for two years. Set in middle-of-nowhere Kenya and run by a small but dedicated group of volunteer teachers and counselors (all white), the school aimed to take some of the city’s most at-risk youth out of their dangerous, distracting urban environment, and provide them with individualized attention and a place where they could run around safely in the great outdoors. The Boys of Baraka focuses on four of these twenty: good-natured Richard and his more reserved brother Romesh, troublemaker Montrey, and preacher-in-training Devon. Review Back
when Hurricane Katrina hit and all the news reports were suddenly
rife with images of a New Orleans that could have been mistaken for
something out of a third-world country, had not the captions been
labeled otherwise, I remember being shocked: this is America? Like
many, I suppose, my own life had left me blissfully ignorant that
such levels of poverty existed here in the supposed land of abundance;
watching our government’s slowness and ineffectiveness in offering
help was utterly depressing. The Boys of Baraka offers
a smaller-scale and more intimate portrait of what it’s like to grow
up in one of
these pockets of America where opportunity is something you’re convinced
that only other people have. Bringing us into the lives of the film’s
four protagonists as well as their families, the film does a great
job of making you feel for these kids; filmmakers Heidi Ewing and
Rachel Grady get the boys and their families
to really open up to the camera, and the result is a clear-eyed,
honest, open peek into their minds and lives. You want to wring the
boys'
necks when they sometimes sabotage themselves; you cheer them on
when they
actually manage to defy the odds and succeed. It’s nothing short
of amazing how much of a difference the boys’ first year at Baraka
makes on their academic success and overall attitude. All of which
might make the movie almost unbearably feel-good inspirational, if
it weren’t for the fact that things take an unexpected turn during
the course of the boys’ time in the program, and we realize that
great ideas and good intentions alone aren’t enough. Whether the
ending will make you hopeful or confirm your cynicism depends on
whether you’re a half-empty or half-full sort of person; either way,
this is a well-made documentary that will keep you thoroughly engaged
while you’re watching it … and leave you thinking about it afterwards
as well.
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