Boys of Baraka

I recently watched a movie which is so poignant and maybe even the saddest film I have ever seen.

The film is called The Boys of Baraka and it is a documentary about African-American boys struggling in the inner city of Baltimore. They come from troubled surroundings filled with drugs, parents in prison and an atmosphere of chaos in the local public schools. Chosen to attend a special school in Kenya to help boys improve academically and mature emotionally, the film is a remarkable odyssey which the filmmakers spent three years in the making. It has won various film festival awards for best documentary. I'm ambivalent in recommending it because I shed many tears while watching it but it is a powerful and moving story. You can learn more about the film by listening to an NPR review of the film It also will be shown in September on television on PBS. Learn more about the movie at the PBS website and check local listings for American public television viewings of the film.  Be sure to use RealPlayer not Quicktime when you listen to the NPR audio file about the movie.