War Dance

Just shocking!! I have not attempted to write any comments on this web site (just lack of time maybe) but after seeing this movie, I felt that had to write about it. It is so touching and natural that I could not help crying while I was watching this film. I felt guilty on my part to share this wild and cruel world, creating so called wars , killing humans and leaving millions of orphans behind... And even the most merciless tran of the war lords can not overcome with love of music and dance. Movie gives a clear idea of how miserable lives are lived at the heart of black Afica. Everybody must see this movie to get insight about war and humanity..

I thought that this movie was truly amazing and so eye opening! I was in shock when i saw this because though I knew that there was a war going on, i didn't realize how bad it really was. I think that this movie was wonderfully made and that they deserved that Oscar. I also think that the three main kids (Dominic, Rose and Nancy) were such nice kids and happy kids even though they had to go through all that. I got to meet Dominic and he is a truly wonderful kid. He is so nice and doing really well.

Also, in case anyone wanted to donate money to AMREF (one of the sponsor's for the film) you can go on their website, www.amref.org and then they tell you how to donate there.

Much like Gore's film, War/Dance is a great cinematic contribution to the world. Bold statement. This film has less urgency and less catastrophe than Gore's but still, it must be watched. I really like the style of storytelling: they allowed the three main subjects--three children: Rose, Nancy, & Dominic--to do all of the storytelling (without any provided narration). The result is three intimate and soul-wrenching revelations of turmoil and perseverance, and most importantly, of hope. Children can be very profound; these three definitely are. They have that look of war veterans in their eyes. Amazingly captured in the cinematography. The shots, presentation of political & social subject matter, emotional content--all excellent. You will walk away informed & attached, and wanting to take action; you don't feel like you've just read yesterday's newspaper or received some second or third-generation information. This film is moving in so many ways. Go.

This superb documentary shows Acholi children from one village in the war zones of northern Uganda, who diligently prepare for the national musical and cultural competition in far-off and far-safer Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

While they try hard to succeed, they are beset by the constant danger of abduction at the hands of the Lord's Resistance Army (MRA), which is led by a religious fanatic (and part-time mystic and fortune-teller) named Joseph Kony, who started an uprising against the Ugandan army in 1986, pledging to turn the country into a theocracy with a constitution loosely based on the Ten Commandments.

Kony's army has abducted more than 30,000 children in northern Uganda and forced them to be soldiers and killers of their own tribal members. More than 200,000 children in northern Uganda have been orphaned because their parents were murdered. The LRA's 20-year war against the central government's Ugandan People's Defence Forces (UPDF), has left at least two million Ugandans displaced from their homes. Meanwhile, even in so-called 'safe camps,' where countless thousands live amid squalor and disease and depend on the United Nations food program, the UPDF still doesn't provide adequate protection.

It is wonderful to watch these determined children turn on their smiles and their brilliant talents as they prepare for, and participate in, the national competition. When they arrive in Kampala (southern Uganda, where no warfare takes place), they are overwhelmed to see skyscrapers; they had never seen buildings before.

Writers/directors Sean Fine and Andrea Nix have done a great job of conveying the wondrous dreams of young people, along with the terrible ordeals they face in a savage, senseless war that sees no end. One youth, in a stunning story of barbarism, recounts how he was ordered to butcher three farmers with a hoe, and if he looked away at any time, he himself would have been murdered. Such is the barbarism that exists in northern Uganda today, much of it all but unknown to us in the West.

To make matters worse, there is blatant corruption in the central government itself, which enacted legislation in 2005 that will allow the corrupt lowlife Yoweri Musevini (elected in 1986) to be president-for-life. There are strong hints that he and Kony have an 'arrangement' to continue the war because it advances both of their 'causes,' although those 'causes' are not always readily apparent. Neither of these two lunatics appears to give a damn about the terrible pain they have inflicted on their own people.

Another equally powerful documentary on this same subject is 'The Other Side of the Country' (2006), by Quebec filmmaker Catherine Hebert. This very disturbing film concentrates more on the older (and even aged) northern Ugandans who are displaced from their homes by war and forced to live out their lives in teeming, treacherous 'relocation' camps, which are really nothing more than disease-infested examples of the worst kinds of slums.

I saw War Dance when it was screened at the Sundance Film Festival. I shed a lot of tears and was awed at the resiliency of these children. Besides the devastating aspects of the film, it was also uplifting and brought a smile to my face. Simple things that opportune individuals take for granted made these children so happy. The cinematography was beautiful and symbolic. The children were lovable. Everyone should see this film as it opens our eyes to what others suffer and overcome. It helped me to realize how lucky I was to live in America and have the life that I have. The film also builds awareness and gives the viewer information on how they can help out with situation in northern Uganda.