I saw this at KIFF and here's a few things I noticed, first that every person over the age of 40 years old came out of the theater saying how spoiled kids these days are. As a 20 something that at time feels torn in two different directions of kid and adult let me tell you parents, you grew up spoiled too. Anyone who grew up in the first world is spoiled, as hard as poverty can be in America you would be hard pressed to find any area that can compare to the slums that the kids in these films live in. Just because you didn't have an Iphone in the 1970s doesn't mean you were by any means roughing it.
Okay that's a tangent, and yes these kids have a hard life behind and ahead of them, but you are struck by the force of their brilliant optimism despite some really crushing poverty.
Next, I always get a little uncomfortable whenever a film starts with a white person trying to teach a bunch of disadvantaged kids something about hope. Barclay Martin, their teacher, is not at anytime patronizing to these kids or their families and is very respectful of traditional music, but again it is a common trope that just bothers me.
But we're not here for Barclay, we're here for the kids. And they are a force of nature. All of them have charisma that is breathtaking and inspiring.
So I went into this film pretty blind, so I didn't know until the Q&a with Barclay that this documentary was actually made by the charity that put this concert together in the first place. I'm not accusing anyone of hiding anything, it says it pretty clearly on the movie poster, which I didn't see until later. So I don't doubt it's a great organization, but it also means the film is biased. You don't see any of the negatives that might have arose while filming. Yes, it's possible that everyone in the community was really just that supportive, I'm not still sure I could trust this film as much as I could have it was made by an objective third party.
TL;DR - It's a moving well made documentary, but it still has some ethical issues that I think should be addressed.
Okay that's a tangent, and yes these kids have a hard life behind and ahead of them, but you are struck by the force of their brilliant optimism despite some really crushing poverty.
Next, I always get a little uncomfortable whenever a film starts with a white person trying to teach a bunch of disadvantaged kids something about hope. Barclay Martin, their teacher, is not at anytime patronizing to these kids or their families and is very respectful of traditional music, but again it is a common trope that just bothers me.
But we're not here for Barclay, we're here for the kids. And they are a force of nature. All of them have charisma that is breathtaking and inspiring.
So I went into this film pretty blind, so I didn't know until the Q&a with Barclay that this documentary was actually made by the charity that put this concert together in the first place. I'm not accusing anyone of hiding anything, it says it pretty clearly on the movie poster, which I didn't see until later. So I don't doubt it's a great organization, but it also means the film is biased. You don't see any of the negatives that might have arose while filming. Yes, it's possible that everyone in the community was really just that supportive, I'm not still sure I could trust this film as much as I could have it was made by an objective third party.
TL;DR - It's a moving well made documentary, but it still has some ethical issues that I think should be addressed.
