Filmmaker Louise Hogarth's documentary Angels in the Dust chronicles one of the most uplifting yet unsung stories of our time: that of the Botshabelo Orphanage outside of Johannesburg, South Africa, founded by Marion and Con Cloete to bring food, shelter, love, and understanding to African children ostracized by their peers and families. That discrimination finds many sources, from AIDS and HIV infection to histories of sexual abuse to racist sentiment, but consistently yields tragedy in the
lives of the young. Hogarth designed her film as a tool to end the ongoing crisis of infant rape and as a humanist reflection on the way in which grassroots compassion can help turn broken lives around. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
In essence, the story of the indomitable nature of the human spirit, the resilience and commitment of a few to help the many and a triumph of hope in adversity.
Angels in the Dust is a troubling documentary for obvious reasons...but it's also a bit disturbing for reasons director Louise Hogarth may not have noticed.
Hogarth creates such a complete and satisfying world in the village that when her camera pans away to a forest of tiny graves in a Soweto cemetery, it's a necessary shock to realize that Cloete's haven is one happy drop in an ocean of suffering.
...Angels in the Dust is an important, enormously emotional film that will hopefully have a far-reaching and valuable impact on the plight of Sub-Saharan AIDS.
Writer-director Louise Hogarth's straightforward film documents the life's work of white South African activist Marion Cloete: Her efforts to feed, educate and love hundreds of abandoned and orphaned children.
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.
March 9, 2008
Denny C
What a moving film. This film inspired me to get involved to help the children. DO UBUNTU. www.orphanbracelet.org.
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