Kids in a Cage

If I didn't see it I wouldn't believe it. This documentary is very well put together showing not only the perspectives of the child athletes themselves, but also their parents, sport organizers, and grown up athletic counterparts. Irving shows both those in support of and those critical of various showcased aspects of the sport. He is not afraid to ask parents and organizers the tough questions I myself was wondering. The viewer is left to consider the information presented and determine their take on the subject, which I appreciate. Overall, I would recommend this documentary to anyone that appreciates, martial arts, sports, coming of age, or documentaries in general.

This is an amazing documentary that made me change the way I think about education in North America. Jayden, one of the main subjects, is extraordinary. I especially loved the fact that there is no preaching in the doc. The audience is left to make up their own minds about kids doing this and it's very thought provoking. I expected to think that kids doing this stuff would was simply awful. I think I'm still on that side of the fence, but perhaps not so much as before. Watching what these kids do, how hard they work and how tough they are, made me wonder - is all this discipline good for these kids? Will it serve them well later in life? Will there be negative long term effects? Are we as a society grossly underestimating that kids are capable of?

These kids are working harder than most adults doing what they love but teaching them to be honorable good sports life skills and how to defend themselves all good things for kids to learn you can't make a negative thing about something so positive.if everyone worked as hard as these kids the world would be a better place the kids are wearing all of their protective gear so it is completely safe . I personally know some of the martial arts teachers and some of the kids that participate in these tournaments it's all about the kids and everyone involved instead of playing video games they are participating in actual tournaments where they don't just get a participation award but a award they actually trained for competed for and deserve life is all about doing your best and working hard they deserve everything they get and there are no losers everyone is a winner and all of these kids get and deserve the respect they get.

Who knew this strange youth culture existed-in 26 countries! After watching, one can appreciate MMA in a new light. One of the trainers poignantly observes, "violence (in this country) is always gonna be there. If these kids dont have tools to defend themselves, they're dead meat".

This film is indeed a treatise on martial arts in our modern age. The unorthodox sport of kids MMA celebrates classic values like discipline and self-reliance, but at times no doubt, seems to license a dangerous amount of aggression in our youth.

While the film follows 10 and 11-year-olds (and their fervent parents) to tournaments around the world, the most salient scenes are in the kids' domiciles, where we get a glimpse into their not-so-Rockwellian home lives.

Ultimately Irving paints a complex picture of the new nuclear family: what some call toxic masculinity; others American exceptionalism.

As someone who has been in martial arts for almost 20 years I enjoyed this documentary. It brought attention to this sport and two athletes stories as they compete in it. This sport can be seen as shocking quite when it's portrayed in a cage. It's actually pretty safe and would allow my kids to do it if they really wanted to. I appreciate that they showed multiple perspectives from those on the outside, leaders in the organization, the athletes and of course the parents. A&E definitely got their shock value out of this show. The commercial definitely made this look like the kids are actually doing MMA. They do clarify later how it is NOT and how this sport IS safe. Unfortunately the visuals definitely lean more to sway those that may be uncomfortable about this to slamming the door on the topic all together. I think they miss the background of the martial arts that go into this. Karate, Muay Thai, BJJ and wrestling, all that have much more to them than just getting in a cage. They did not once touch on the history of Pankration, which is what this actually is and it's history as one of the original Olympic sports. It's basically a glorified BJJ match that this show displays in a cage rather than a Mat. It makes me wonder how authenticity they captured the lives of these kids and their parents. Perhaps they didn't give this show time to go deeper as it's only one episode. I definitely could have watched some more and it would have probably added value and more clarity most viewers deserved. If you do martial arts, are interested in them or are curious what these kids are actually doing? Check this show out.