shepler99

Lost Children (2005)

Excellent view of the complexity of reintegration for former child soldiers

I have done research with former child soldiers in Sierra Leone, and I teach courses on youth and conflict. I use this film in my class because it is one of the few out there to present the complexity of reintegration for former child soldiers from the point of view of those affected, rather than from the point of view of Westerners trying to help them. The stories are powerfully effecting, so there is no need for preaching. The four children profiled have vastly different post-abduction experiences and that allows us to question the notion that once children are demobilized it is simply a matter of returning them to their pre-war setting for reintegration to take place. Some of the themes are: the danger of re-abduction, the importance of ritual and ceremony, the importance of religion, the different experiences of girls, and the fact that some families don't accept these children back while others do ecstatically.

I've found this documentary excellent at starting conversations in the classroom.