Review of Angels in the Dust (2007) by Denny C — 16 Mar 2008

I discovered the poorest and most abused of urban children worldwide when I saw a screening of Pixote shortly after getting out of college.

Although not easily available these days, the images of that film still haunt me years later.

Although not quiet as harsh, and although quite a bit more hopeful, this documentary tells a story of love and hope and joy (and possibly triumph) despite the devastation of the AIDS epidemic in Africa, in this case South Africa.

You won't be shocked beyond recognition as you might have been if you saw City of God, but you will be moved as the children tell their stories of loss and of grief.

One woman and her family have brought hope where there is little cause for it and the filmmaker chronicles life in the community that they have established in Johannesburg to care for and to perhaps heal the children of AIDS.

Two thumbs up for this effort and for the film and for the filmmaker.

On a personal note, if there is a cause where our war waging resources should be diverted, I think that that cause is the rescue of the abandoned children of our 3rd world urban centers and the orphaned children of the AIDS epidemic in Africa.