Raw emotions, both uplifting and depressing, are captured.
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06/13/08
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The Boys of Baraka (2005)
73
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Reviews Counted:41
Fresh:30
Rotten:11
Average Rating:6.8/10
Consensus: The interviewed boys are compelling subjects, but the documentary would be better if the filmmakers had provided more factual details.
Theatrical Release:Nov 30, 2005 Limited
Synopsis: On September 12, 2002 twenty "at risk" 12-year-old boys from the tough streets of inner-city Baltimore left home to attend the 7th and 8th grade at Baraka, an experimental boarding school located... [More]
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Reviews for The Boys of Baraka
A film that might have been a dry exercise in earnest nonfiction filmmaking becomes a soaring, artistically complex testament to survival, character and hope.
02/09/06
It's galling to think American kids must go abroad for a chance to turn their lives around. But it's also inspiring to see the changes that are possible.
04/14/06
Top CriticDevon says, "Life isn't fair, it'll never be fair." The boys can't help but learn this lesson.
02/21/06
Rough but heartfelt, The Boys of Baraka addresses an important issue with conviction.
03/01/07
Almost brazenly bereft of artistic shaping, The Boys of Baraka still has the core of direct, human interest that sustains many documentaries.
03/10/06
The Boys of Baraka is highly recommended.
09/26/05
It's all very moving and uplifting. It's also exasperating.
01/19/06
Charts an experimental educational program that takes African-American boys from the ghetto streets of Baltimore to the wilderness of Kenya.
11/23/05
Undeniably delivers a great many moments of vivid heartbreak and uplift, but in leaving so much relevant information out of the film, directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady have kept it from being a true powerhouse.
01/20/06
Edgy, and hard-hitting, it's an important film of immense power and should be seen by everyone who cares about the youth of America.
02/22/06
The results are amazing, though bittersweet, and demonstrate how complicated and expensive it is (though not impossible) to break the cycle of poverty, crime and lack of education.
12/02/05
Top CriticRegardless of its shortcomings, The Boys of Baraka introduces a project that seems to do for Baltimore what Jaime Escalante did for inner-city Latino kids in Los Angeles. For this we must be grateful.
03/11/06
This documentary makes you wonder what our nation's schools would be like if educators had all the resources they need and deserve . . . and if students here had as much individual instruction as they need and deserve.
04/07/06
A potent mixture of heartbreak and crushing irony.
03/03/06
If American TV journalism were doing its job, reportage such as this would be regularly playing on major networks instead of limited runs at art house theaters.
12/05/05
The film is at once warmly funny and very moving.
12/02/05
The Boys of Baraka's greatest service is in shining a light on a problem many people don't want to talk about: our willingness to throw away the lives of kids who grow up in dangerous neighborhoods far from quality schools.
01/19/06
Top CriticThe Boys of Baraka generates its own disquieting form of suspense with its ambiguous open ending.
11/30/05
With echoes of such films as "Born Into Brothels" and "Lost Boys of Sudan," "The Boys of Baraka" makes its own strong statement about the impact of environment on human development.
11/25/05
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