ABC Africa

This is a documentary shot at the request of a group of Ugandan women to publicise their mission to educate the AIDS and war orphans that would otherwise become a lost generation. The crew went to Uganda to shoot pilot footage using the smallest JVC mini-dv cameras intending to return with film cameras later, but the footage they took and the film that emerged from it is so unique that they felt the moment could never be recaptured. All Kiarostami's usual concerns with film form are put to the service of an enquiry into the relationship between film maker and subject without ducking uncomfortable questions about power and meeting of cultures. Released the same year as Black Hawk Down this film not only shows a side of Africa completely erased by Hollywood, it is a blueprint for a completely new approach to documentary. The comment that the best thing about the film is the format massively misses the importance and uniqueness of this film.

Kiarostami is invited by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to see the work of Uganda Women's Effort to Save Orphans (UWESO). Carrying a couple of camcorders, the director sets to document what he sees. The film material covers the period from April 2000 to March 2001.

The ravages of civil war, AIDS and also malaria have resulted in a plenitude of orphans in Uganda. It is for them that UWESO exists.

Kiarostami makes at least one extended visit to Masaka, the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic in Uganda. This is the kind of place where electricity is cut out at midnight. One of the longest take in the film is shot in a pitch black night after the lights go out.

Efforts to control the spread of AIDS is hampered by religion. Use of condoms is discouraged by the religious. Virginity is advocated as the correct alternative. Fat chance. Not surprisingly, 15 to 45 years men die from AIDS. The result is that towns are devoid of adult males.

Kiarostami never misses an opportunity to film kids. It is an old interest of his. Moreover UWESO is there for them.

Kiarostami meets an Austrian couple, a doctor and a teacher, who adopt a little girl. Elsewhere a little boy catches Kiarostami's attention. The camera approaches and zooms in. This little boy has eerily brilliant sky blue eyes.

The best thing that can be said about "ABC Africa" is that its making is a victory for digital format of shooting films.When a film maker of Abbas Kiarostami's stature decides to shoot a documentary film on Africa using his tiny digital video camera in some way this gesture gives credibility to the belief that digital video is going to be adopted by many more leading filmmakers in the years to come. Kiarostami has been able to shoot some of the most incredible shots including one that was filmed in darkness. As far as this film is concerned the best lesson that can be learned is that of hope,joy and happiness. Who in this world can remain unaffected when he/she is having a glimpse of impoverished African children who are full of joy and radiance on their faces despite finding themselves encircled in a world of misery.There is also an element of sadness as according to the visuals shot by Kiarostami,Uganda like other African countries has lot of greenery, nature and natural resources.But as the large part of the entire African continent is ruled by military leaders and dictators,it is hard to even assume that common people can find some relief from hunger,famine,wars and tragedies.Kiarostami has filmed ABC Africa in a cinema vérité manner. This is the reason why the entire film appears as non partial.Lastly it must be stated that despite being harsh in tone,this film offers substantial amount of optimism in the form of adoption of an orphaned baby girl.The best thing to watch in this film : A song called Sanga Lo, Sanga Lo which appears too often.

This movie has very good goals and intentions, but isn't edited enough to get the full point. I found myself getting lost in the singing, and children dancing in front of the camera, and often forgetting what the point was. A good half of the film was just that.. children reacting to the presence of a video camera and having non African men around. Also, there was just too much footage of children's faces. We seem often too fascinated by poor little African's faces and forget the real surrounding issues. Other than that, the film had some good points and good scenes. Beautiful footage of the countryside, although also too much.

Asked by the UN International Fund for Economic Development (IFAD) to make a film documenting the plight of millions of Ugandan orphans ravaged by the recent civil war and the scourge of AIDS, Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami responded with something much more, a personal and poetic film that allows us to see the people, the land, and the culture of Uganda without relentless images of despair. The documentary, ABC Africa, captures a kaleidoscope of faces of children and adults that display an enthusiasm for life that belies the grim statistics. The children of Kampala may be without parents but they are still children, ready to burst into wondrous song or dance, or simply mug for the camera when given the opportunity.

ABC Africa illuminates the work of the Uganda Women's Effort to Save orphans (UWESCO), an organization of women willing to adopt these children even though they may have many other mouths to feed. There is no voice-over narration in the film, only interviews with Ugandan relief workers who describe the extent of the problems they face. In trademark Kiarostami fashion, as a car drives through the streets of Kampala and the countryside, the digital hand-held camera records the passing scene, revealing both the beauty and the ugliness of Ugandan life. In one extraordinary sequence, we share the grief as the camera pans into a hospital for children dying of AIDS and follows a dead child being wrapped in a blanket and put into a makeshift cardboard box, then wheeled away on a bicycle to an unknown burial ground.

Equally memorable is a five-minute segment shot in total darkness inside a hotel where the power has failed due to regular midnight power cuts. All we hear is the conversation of two men in Farsi as they struggle to find their hotel room, a hint of the fear that Ugandans face each night and a metaphor for the darkness in which millions of Africans live. The film also shows the well-meaning but questionable efforts of a young Austrian family to adopt an orphaned girl found on the streets and bring her to Austria. Though some might have wanted ABC Africa to address the social, economic, and political causes that have left 1.6 million children without parents, Kiarostami's camera is simply present to each given moment and the result is a revelation.