Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here. I love it when someone gets really revved up about a small film they saw that I might otherwise hear nothing about, and this is a good example of that:
Hey Harry, Moriarty and all- I've been enjoying the site for a while... plus I was lucky enough to catch some of the films at this years Full Frame documentary festival and I wanted to write a bit about the best doc that I saw; War/Dance. I haven't seen anything on this site about it yet so I thought I'd share.... War/Dance is a documentary from Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine, which has been making the festival rounds lately, starting at Sundance where it won the directors award. It was picked up by ThinkFilm and I think it will be in theaters later this year. War/Dance tells the story of Dominic, Rose and Nancy, three students in northern Uganda who are growing up in a warzone, where the Lords Resisdance Army rutinely slaughters innocent people and abducts children to turn into soldiers. Needless to say these kids have it pretty rough. Some of them have watched their parents get murdered, and they are all in constant danger of being abducted. They are now forced to live in a camp where the army protects them from the rebels. These kids enter a national music competition and to everyones surprise are invited to the finals in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. The film follows them as they prepare for the competition, and also tells the stories of what these three kids have gone through as victims of this ongoing war. One of the most impressive things about the film is how beautiful it looks. So many docs these days look like they were shot on handicams and seem to be striving for a grainy faux cinema verite style or whatever, War/Dance though looks absolutely incredible. The landscapes are breathtaking and colors of the clothes, grass, sky, people, and earth really pop off the screen. The film is shot really creatively as well, Sean Fine, who did all the camera work, spent years shooting for National Geographic and it shows. The interviews are heart-breaking and extremely powerful, with the kids speaking directly to the camera Errol Morris-style, describing the atrocities that they have witnessed and at times been forced to participate in. The film builds as the kids practice and make the dangerous trip through the warzone to Kampala, and then when they take the stage it just explodes and all the passion and everything these kids have built up in them is translated into music and dance. You can literally see the stage moving with the rhythm of the drums and pounding feet of the kids, it's pretty powerful stuff. So yeah, this is the best doc I've seen in a while and I really recommend it to anyone/everyone. It's been getting standing ovations and most of it's screenings and winning plenty of awards, all for good reason. Plus, when it hits theaters ThinkFilm and the filmmakers will be giving all ticket proceeds back to the kids featured in the film, which is really cool. Okay well I'm not much of a writer but I hope that's alright. If my review didn’t do it for you, check out the trailer: Anyway guys thanks for the continued quality of this site, cheers all around. Oh yeah if you use this just call me Pikul Silversun.
