Set in Northern Uganda, a country ravaged by more than two decades of civil war, "War/Dance" tells the story of Dominic, Rose and Nancy, three children whose families have been torn apart, their homes destroyed, and who currently reside in a displaced persons camp in Patongo. When they are invited to compete in an annual music and dance festival, their historic journey to their nation's capital is also an opportunity to regain a part of their childhood and to taste victory for the first time in
their lives.
It is wonderful to watch this joyous slice of the cultural lives of these victimized, traumatized children struggling to survive and build a better life in a desperately troubled part of the world.
This film offers a child's perspective on the ravages and complexity of war and is also a convincing testament to the healing power of creative expression.
'The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places,' Hemingway wrote in A Farewell to Arms. That statement might stand as the summation of this documentary, which celebrates the strength of winsome, broken children.
War/Dance is two documentaries struggling uneasily against each other. The one that wins -- the only one that matters, really -- is a devastatingly emotional saga about Ugandan children of war reclaiming their lives.
War/Dance suggests that talent can overcome even the greatest of tragedies. All one has to do is receive vindication for their attempts, and a whole new outlook blossoms
Besides breathtaking cinematography, undulating rhythms, enchanting choreography and soul-piercing refrains, this uplifting documentary is worthwhile as an affirmation of the human potential to be reborn even in the midst of dire circumstances.
A truly beautiful tribute to the redemptive powers of art, music, and dance, and the insidious destructiveness that trickles down in war to the most innocent of victims. Please see it.
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