Review of War Dance (2007) by Richard S — 16 Apr 2008

This well intentioned documentary suffers because it provides no context for either of the two main focuses.

First, there's no attempt to explain the political situation. Of course the stories that the three children share are unbearably tragic, but presenting a string of website addresses during the credits isn't enough to differentiate their struggles from Darfur/Rwanda/etc. I didn't expect a treatise, but a five minute introduction could've given me a general sense of the situation.

Maybe even more importantly, there's no attempt to explain the rules or importance of the music competition. Despite some beautiful photography, the directors rely on generic sport movie tropes to structure their film. But if you don't know the rules of the game, how can you get anything out of the competition? It's clear that the children are underdogs, but the lack of context forced me into the awkwardly cynical position of not really caring when they triumphed because I assumed from the start that they would rise to the top. Why else would these particular children be the focus of an Oscar nominated documentary?

This is an incredibly frustrating film. It's not without merit, but there's such a shallow presentation and the horrors are delivered with such calculation on the filmmakers' part that it fails to achieve its main purposes. It is neither uplifiting, educational or most importantly, memorable. The creators had a golden opportunity to illuminate yet another humanitarian nightmare, but their effort don't do the children or their plight any justice.