Documentary finds hope amid horror
Published 2:53 pm Thursday, November 29, 2007
Since the genocide in Darfur is getting more attention than before, it is depressing but necessary to note that another human-rights disaster has been going on in Africa for almost two decades now. The movie “War Dance” seeks to call attention to the conflict, albeit through an uplifting documentary style.
In northern Uganda, rebel leader Joseph Kony, the self-proclaimed leader of the Lord’s Revolutionary Army, has been waging terror against his own Acholi people.
This is partly a reaction against the central Ugandan government, and partly a crusade by Kony (who’s also a self-proclaimed spirit medium) to install a theocracy based on the Ten Commandments.
The LRA has slaughtered and displaced thousands, but somehow more horrifying is their systematic kidnappings of children, who are then forced to become fighters or sex slaves.
These are the children of “War Dance,” and some of them tell their stories. We focus on three in particular: Nancy, 14, whose father was killed and mother abducted; Rose, 13, who was forced to watch the murder of her parents; and Dominic, 14, who was forced to become a soldier and a murderer himself.
Given the devastating subject matter, perhaps it was merciful that filmmakers Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine chose a heartwarming concept for their movie. These kids, and others, live in a displaced persons camp for the Acholi.
Their school was invited to participate for the first time in Uganda’s National Music Competition, an annual contest that draws kids from thousands of schools. We watch as the kids from the camp rehearse and prepare for this music and dance competition.
Even with the sequences of song and dance, the film doesn’t stray far from the war zone. We see Nancy visit the grave of her father, and Dominic ask an LRA soldier about whether Dominic’s brother might still be alive.
After all this, the sight of the kids in the music competition can’t help but be emotional. And it is. “War Dance” takes an unusual approach to highlighting atrocities, but in this case a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine bearable.
