Film Review 3

This weekend I sat down and watched the film Invisible Children, a documentary filmed in 2003 by Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole. Invisible Children tells the story of the on-going war in Uganda as well as the story of children who are affected by the constant threat of being turned into child soldiers by the Lords Resistance Army, a rebel group in Northern Uganda. The beginning of the movie starts as a focus on what the three film makers expect of their trip to Africa, as well as shots of their time in Kenya and a search for a story throughout Uganda. Once they meet two boys at a hospital they are staying at in Uganda, they “have their story” and finally focus on the commute that hundreds of children make from their remote villages miles to the hospital in the city.

The movie was filmed well and included a lot of historical information that was necessary for anyone who is not aware of the long conflict in Uganda. Included in the beginning was also some light-hearted video of the three filmmakers life in the United States and their expectations for their time in Africa. The movie told a great compelling story without being too heavy and was very upfront and honest in the end about needing money to continue the aid to these invisible children.

One of my favorite parts of the film is when they are showing video clips of different children in Uganda and their casualties, such as knife wounds, rape, amputee. When a boy named Antony’s name came up on the screen, his casualty was stated as “forced to kill”. This is something that is not usually seen as a casualty compared to the previous ones listed but it was such a great addition to what the documentary was about and how being a child soldier is a horrific casualty that so many of these children suffer from.

Another part of the documentary that I found interesting was the storyline of how these children do not even cry anymore because when they are abducted and taken into the bush by the Lords Resistance Army, if they cry they are seen as weak and weeping for their families and endure a heavy beating or even death. Therefore, many of the children said that they are sad but they do not cry anymore. It was shocking in the end of the movie when the film makers were asking a boy about his brother that had been murdered, what he would say to him if he were to see him again. After saying that he would see him in heaven, he began to cry.

Throughout the documentary the history of the war is recounted many times, stating that it had been going on for seventeen years [at the release of the film]. Human rights is such an important issue now and after things like the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide, people constantly say how awful it is and how things should have been done sooner. Yet here is a genocide occurring in northern Uganda and the international community is once again sitting back and letting these human rights violations occur. Although the leader of the Lords Resistance Army, Joseph Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court, he is still “at large” and leading these people in his army to abduct and murder innocent civilians.

Invisible Children is a wonderfully told story of the loss of innocence that is occurring throughout northern Uganda by child abductions for soldiering. It tells of the massive human rights violations by the Lords Resistance Armys and the civilians attempts at avoiding abductions and in the larger picture, continuing on with their lives. More specifically it tells the story of young children as they commute from their rural villages to a hospital in the city and do their homework by candle light, only to wake up at dawn the next morning to walk home and continue on with the day. This documentary is such an impressive narrative for the lives that these children lead, and ends with a plea for help to the international community for their time, creativity and money.