The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun

The Sun is a newspaper, and the girl is a crippled girl living on the streets of Senegal in poverty with her blind grandmother. The film is basically a parable of her fortitude and the adversity she faces, with inspiring gestures of solidarity and thought-provoking elements of strife--even her enemies are sympathetic in the sense that they, too, struggle with poverty. This would be a wonderful film to show to children for discussion.

the movie is about the life of Sili, a young handicapped girl in Dakar, Senegal. it shows her struggles to earn a living in a world which is cruel yet can be wonderful too, if you have the courage and the go getter attitude to battle it out. i found her story to be very inspiring. also, you get to see dakar, senegal as it is now. a third world nation which is developing and yet at the same time the poverty which is present everywhere. highly recommended !!!

because IMDb requires even more commentary, here are some of my personal observations. even though the people are poor they are stoic about it. that is an uniquely African attitude. the frustration of individual's is contained within the body/soul until it comes out in a single anguished scream. or so it seems to me. also, the depiction of poverty in this movie is spot on. if you have never been to a third world country, well this will shock you, but it's totally realistic. actually, real life is much worse, the part where she flashes her money, in real life somebody would have taken it for sure. so the movie is kinda naive, but overall i liked the feel good message of the movie.

It was a joy to watch this outstanding film on the life of street children in Senegal. There was some sadness, but the story of determination of the small newspaper-seller was so profound. Lissa Baldera is an outstanding young actress (sadly, it was her only film to date). The fact that there was so sentimentalization by the director of these children's lives made that film that much more profound. Highly recommended.

Not a story, but a chapter of story in the life of a truly physically crippled child. This came across as a fine children's film.

To West African eyes (the original audience), the poverty depicted is an accepted reality. But to my American eyes, the poverty and plight of these children utterly overpowered the plot. More interesting than entertaining. Unforgettable on its own terms.

Great movie, hard for me to watch as a pampered American.

Sili seems to live the impossible - she makes her money then seems to pass out that money to not only her Grandmother, but everyone nearby. There is no way to tell if these people are family or simply neighbors.

I have some health problems. When Sili is knocked over by the boys, and one of her crutches falls in the water, the camera pans to Sili's electric smile. She is smiling at the thought of her friend jumping in the water to get her crutch, not thinking about the evil boys that just tried to harm her.

It is a smile that I want to cultivate for myself. The smile was insane in its origin, it came from inside the girl, not from her circumstance. I want to be that kind of insane. I want to smile on my worst days like I don't have a care in the world.