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03/11/06
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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
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12/24/05
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12/24/05
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11/11/06
...fails to distinguish itself.
02/27/06
It is all very sketchy and superficial.
03/02/06
You can see the direction that the documentary started to take, but thanks to the sudden shift in content, it has an unfinished feeling.
03/17/06
I feel that all its acclaim and awards are meant more for the cause than for the artistic or journalistic achievements of presenting the cause.
09/18/07
leaves out vital pieces of information, such as how and why the school was founded and who pays for it
04/05/07
Ewing and Grady prefer to make their case through illustration rather than rhetoric, but they fall critically short in detailing the students' transformative school experiences.
11/30/05
Top CriticFeels achingly sad and frustratingly incomplete.
01/19/06
Top CriticIs public indifference to the circumstances that produce these dead-end expectations fueled as much by the hopelessness depicted in well-meaning documentaries like 'Baraka' as by violent gangsta rap narratives and cliched boyz-n-the-hood movies?
04/14/06
After Born into Brothels won an Academy Award for Best Documentary, it was only a matter of time before the imitators started coming along.
01/06/07
The Boys of Baraka's heart may be in the right place, but its portrait of poor Baltimore kids selected to attend boarding school in Kenya is rife with suspect perspectives.
11/29/05
Imagine if "Hoop Dreams" (1994), the documentary about Chicago high schoolers who dream of making the NBA, had slammed to a halt after the kids' junior year, and you'll get a feeling for the way "The Boys of Baraka" leaves you hanging.
04/27/06
Raw emotions, both uplifting and depressing, are captured.
06/13/08
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
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