The children depicted in this movie are remarkable.
They are internally displaced refugees in northern Uganda who have made their way to a national music festival in Kampala.
As directors Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine follow the students of the Patongo Primary School, they spend time letting the audience get to know them.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/2saj4gJ4Lvw" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]Their stories are horrible to relate: one girl, Rose, recounts how her parents were murdered by the rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army; another, Dominic, admits for the first time to anyone that he killed three people with a hoe because he was forced to after being abducted by the rebels.
Dominic loves to play the xylophone and says how playing it lets him forget the atrocities he has witnessed and committed.
Dominic’s story is far too common – members of the Lord’s Resistance Army abduct children all the time and turn them into child soldiers.
The directors allow the audience to see how life in the refugee camp is difficult. However, there is also great happiness and beauty.
It is because of rather than despite the situation that makes the music in the camp so welcome, so important.
The uplifting part of the documentary is how the children remain resilient and hopeful in the midst of such fear and carnage. While some are scarred for life they can still sing, dance, and play instruments.
The parallel story is not about the war but about the music festival in the Ugandan capital.
“War Dance,” which is more than an underdog story, is available for rent.
Murphy can be found at: [email protected]
