It is hard for me to know the full motivations of the creators of this film, though i want to believe that they are taking initiative to instate social change in and outside of the United States, there are some aspects of the film that i feel to be problematic. This film focuses on a group of African American children who reside in the projects of Bed-Stuy, NY and their pen pal relationship with a group of children who reside in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Both groups of children live within the struggles and endure hardships that surround them, for the Bed-Stuy children this includes inner-city poverty, low income housing projects, ever increasing crime levels and extensive amounts of violence in the community. Though this may sound terrible the children of Freetown experience much, much worse including extremely severe poverty, a lack of common resources necessary to survival, such as medicine, nourishment, hydration and shelter. The children in Freetown are accommodated by a makeshift school/orphanage called Children In Crisis, established by a woman named Aunty Musu, who is responsible for saving many of the orphans from death and neglect after an extensive and hostile civil war that left Sierra Leone devastated. The children of Bed-Stuy attend an urban environment primary school that promotes peace and positivity within the community, and through this school initiated the pen pal program that has brought these children together.
This documentary represented and portrayed communities of color exclusively and positively though it was created at the hands of two white males, which to me indicates an imbalance. Though we might begin to see more legitimate representations of communities of color on screen we cannot forget the lack of representation behind the camera in areas of authority.
One thing i really found remarkable about the film was the fact that the young kids in Bed-Stuy were able to look passed the inequality and negativity of their own situation and be selfless enough to conduct a fundraiser in hopes of bettering the education and lives of less fortunate children. The children of Bed-Stuy should be viewed as role models for the rest of the world in that their determination allows them to be potent vessels of social change. One thing that i did not agree with the director on was his belief that keeping the groups of children physically separated would somehow add dramatic effect to the film, though by the end of the film you would think that the children from Sierra Leone and Bed-Stuy had been friends for their entire lives.
Also, this film passed the Bechdel test for both race as well as gender with flying colors.
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I really wanted to see this film but the times it showed were inconvenient to me. I agree that when it comes to a film based on a specific group of people it would be beneficial to the audience if there's a strong representation behind the camera, however, I'm not sure if it's at the fault of the film-makers themselves. The director, Dave LaMattina, also wrote the film and it would have been wise of him to select a second director that would better represent one or both of the communities focused on in the film. My guess is Chad N. Walker was chosen primarily because the two have worked on a few other films together in the past.
ReplyDeleteIt is kind of sad that the two groups of children don't meet but, in my opinion, if they're raising money for the children in Sierra Leone it seems like it would be a huge waste of funding to fly a classroom of kids across the country so audiences could experience a heartwarming moment.
Great job Myles,
ReplyDeleteThank you
I said the same thing regarding of that film (Brown Stones to Red Dirt) I would have been a very good idea if the directors of the film would raise some funding for the kids from New York to fly to Sierra Leones to meet them. I can understand I would have been a challenge for Sierra Leones' kids to fly to New york due to legal documents. Myles and I saw that movie together, but it was really sad for me to watch it because I saw myself fited very well in their tragedy. I think they were being sterotyped at some point becuase they chose two minority groups whose from two bad locations to film that movie. My one question to these movie makers/producers/directors, will these unfortunates people from New York and Sierra Leones be benefited financially from the movie?
Abner Richet
I said the same thing regarding of that film (Brown Stones to Red Dirt) It would have been a very good idea if the directors of the film would raise some funding for the kids from New York to fly to Sierra Leones to meet thre African kids. I can understand that It would have been a challenge for Sierra Leones' kids to fly to New york due to legal documents. Myles and I saw that movie together, but it was really sad for me to watch it because I saw myself fitted very well in their tragedy. I think they were being sterotyped at some point becuase they chose two minority groups whose from two bad locations to film that movie. My one question to these movie makers/producers/directors, will these unfortunates people from New York and Sierra Leones be benefited financially from the movie?
ReplyDeleteNice job. Great connections to the class concepts. I absolutely agree with both the positive and negative aspects of the film. I would add that if they had had a woman behind the camera, perhaps more girls would have felt comfortable talking to them. The film does pass the gender Bechdel test, but out of 8 kids profiled, only 2 were girls.
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