The Boys of Baraka

These brave and appealing children leave the only world they know to reinvent themselves with only their own shaky courage to remind them of their life back in the rough streets of Baltimore. The heart and soul each of the young characters brings to their life-changing adventure is breathtaking. Each Baraka boy knocked me out by his charm, tenacity and strength. The film introduced me to adolescents I would never have known and now will remember forever. I'll root for the success of each of these troubled boys and their dysfunctional but loving families. Audiences must see the triumphs of spiritual Devon, charismatic Richard, sweet Romesh and smart, hardheaded Montrey.

I saw the world premiere of this documentary at SXSW 2005 and it was definitely the best of it's kind in the festival. There are several points in the film when you have to beg yourself not to cry. It's a beautiful film that makes you forget about the American lifestyle and realize that there are more important things. You can't help but feel sympathetic toward the boys in the film, all they've seen in their life is blood, drugs and tears. Their stay in Africa allows you to see how these boys change from violent boys to strong men. And they are so adventurous and funny that you feel you're with them the whole ride. I hope this movie get's the distribution it deserves. It certainly shows how troubled young people have a chance to change, against all odds.

I believe that this movie helps bring to view the real struggles that young African American boys go through when they are growing up in hard neighborhoods like Baltimore. Most of them thought that there was nothing that they could do to make their lives better then what they were at that moment. Most of the boys, and their parents, thought that the boys would not even make it to their high school graduation. The Baraka School helped these boys realize that there is more to them then boys who will drop out and end up in prison. The Baraka School showed the boys how to work together and make something of themselves. When it was stopped all the boys knew that in order to make their lives the best they would have to talk what they learned from the school and apply it to their original public schools. Some of the boys didn't get to live out their dreams of becoming more then just a statistic and they ended up doing poorly in school and only living the easiest why they could. But boys like Devon and Montrey used what they learned from their one year at the Baraka School and made their lives the best by doing well in school and becoming the first people in their families to make something of themselves. The movie takes the viewer and shows them the lives of these boys by touching the heart and showing you exactly how the boys live. It is an excellent movie and should be watched by everyone.

"Boys of Baraka" is a welcome antidote to the kind of "educratic" nonsense about child-centered education I see all the time as a public school teacher in Los Angeles.

The lessons are that any motivated child can learn if enough attention can be paid, and if destructive influences can be kept at bay. The teaching methods shown in the film are old-fashioned, the students are black, and the teachers are white, and education and growth happens.

This film should be mandatory viewing for all Superintendents, School Board Members, School Administrators and teachers of inner city African-American students.

I saw this film at the SXSW 2005 film festival where it won the Special Jury prize and was the runner-up audience favorite. It's a powerful emotionally involving film that should reach a wide audience. The skill of the filmmakers is most evident as you say to yourself over and over, "how could they have gotten that on film? Don't these people see the camera watching them?" Beautifully shot with a tremendous amount of heart, it's the first documentary (non-Holocaust-related) I've seen that had grown men in the audience with tears in their eyes. It contains both hope and despair, and makes you feel strongly that this shouldn't be happening in the United States of America. As soon as you have the chance, go and see it.