"Finding The Way Home" (2019 release) is a documentary about kids in orphanages. As the movie opens, we are informed that there are 8 million kids around the world living in orphanages, even though most of them are not orphans, but simply abandoned. Science is clear that these kids would be much better off with family (real or foster). The documentary then goes about telling the stories of 6 such kids. The first story comes from Moldova, where we get to know 11 yr. old Maria, who was abandoned at birth by her mother due to having celebral palsy and left in a state institution for severely disabled kids. Eventually a single mom who volunteered there, adopted Maria... At this point we are 10 min. into the documentary.
Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from veteran film makers Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill, whose most recent documentary was 2017's excellent "Rock and a Hard Place". Here they look at the dismal situation faced by millions of kids around the world: mostly abandoned and left to their own device in state institutions where they are lucky to survive at all, but given a chance (in a family setting), these kids will thrive and love. We get stories from Moldova, Haiti, Bulgaria, Nepal, Brazil and India, and frankly, all of them are moving and heartbreaking in one way or another. Your heart aches for the many kids in orphanages who do not get the opportunity to find a better chance. It makes at times for difficult viewing, for a number of reasons. Please note that the version of "Finding the Way Home" which I saw on HBO ran 65 min., but that this film is listed on IMDb as running for 97 min. I have no idea if in fact there are different versions of the film out there, although it did strike me that 65 min. seems like an odd running time.
"Finding the Way Home" premiered last week on HBO and is now available on HBO On Demand and other streaming services. If you are in the mood for a moving and well done documentary about the fate of kids in orphanages around the world, and what can be done to makes their lives better, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.
