Unexpectedly humane and lovely and not at all preachy.
Comment
10/20/05
ABC Africa (2002)
78
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:23
Fresh:18
Rotten:5
Average Rating:6.6/10
Theatrical Release:May 3, 2002 Limited
Synopsis: Originally intended as a documentary about the orphans of Uganda's destructive civil war, Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami (TASTE OF CHERRY) expanded the scope of ABC AFRICA to include those... [More]
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
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Reviews for ABC Africa
The rich and surprising series of 'impressions' that comprise ABC Africa celebrate the orphans' resilience and, even amid such destitution, the richness of human experience.
05/13/02
Very much a home video, and so devoid of artifice and purpose that it appears not to have been edited at all.
02/20/03
A heart-wrenching documentary about the 1.6 million orphans in Uganda whose parents died of AIDS.
05/04/02
Despite the locale, ABC Africa is both new and familiar for those who know Kiarostami, and it's a great introduction for those who don't.
06/05/08
There are more shots of children smiling for the camera than typical documentary footage which hurts the overall impact of the film. It's makes a better travelogue than movie.
08/16/02
It's a surprisingly uplifting experience, and in the end, unmistakably a Kiarostami film.
05/02/02
ABC Africa, with its impressionistic style, doesn't provide much in the way of facts ... but it does provide glimpses of the dying.
05/25/02
The people in ABC Africa are treated as docile, mostly wordless ethnographic extras.
05/21/02
Top CriticFulfilling his mandate to make useful publicity, Kiarostami unavoidably expressed himself.
04/30/02
Top CriticA gorgeous and surprisingly profound meditation on a place and its people.
02/27/04
Top CriticKiarostami has crafted a deceptively casual ode to children and managed to convey a tiny sense of hope.
02/24/03
Kiarostami profoundly displays Uganda's life and culture through his touristy pictures, as deceptively simple as the alphabet
12/25/02
Will do nothing to advance or detract from the reputation of the acclaimed Iranian filmmaker.
02/27/04
Top CriticHelps to remind the First World that HIV/AIDS is far from being yesterday's news.
01/21/02
An upbeat personal film telling in an amiable touristy way the story of the Ugandan orphans.
05/09/05
You come away from his film overwhelmed, hopeful and, perhaps paradoxically, illuminated.
05/02/02
Top CriticSo muddled, repetitive and ragged that it says far less about the horrifying historical reality than about the filmmaker's characteristic style.
08/16/02
There is a sense here of an encroaching darkness humbly met, unburdened by one-note feelings such as fear or joy and simply experienced as a profound moment of enlightenment.
06/24/05
The you-are-there style ultimately enhances ABC Africa's ability to get inside the soul of Uganda, and of the viewer.
08/15/02
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