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Children Underground

Play trailer Poster for Children Underground 2001 1h 44m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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94% Tomatometer 17 Reviews 92% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
After the fall of communism in Romania, unwanted children in state orphanages escaped into the streets. These children are the subject of this documentary, which follows them into a subterranean world of hierarchy, hunger and drug use. The film focuses on five diverse children, including 12-year-old Mihai, who ran away from home due to his father's beatings, and Cristina, who passes for a boy. The filmmakers follow and record their daily lives, and the strained possibilities for reintegration.

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Children Underground

Critics Reviews

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Peter Rainer New York Magazine/Vulture 06/16/2002
Almost unbearably sad. Go to Full Review Geoff Pevere Toronto Star 01/18/2002
Heartbreaking, urgent, unsentimental and unflinching. Go to Full Review Robert Koehler Variety 09/24/2001
Edet Belzberg's fearless aesthetic is also a measure of her film's brilliant indictment of any society that can allow its most vulnerable to slip into oblivion. Go to Full Review Christopher Null Filmcritic.com 01/01/2006
2/5
Film Threat 12/06/2005
3/5
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 07/01/2005
3/5
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Audience Reviews

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Elaine M @RT21543316 01/06/2025 Must watch ! Has me in tears opened my eyes abd gave me strong desire look then up They need exposure and hopefully some kind of funding abd a chance most of us get and take for granted I’d love them to do an update See more delysid d @RT67044741 04/26/2017 Sad and shocking. Very cool documentary See more 01/02/2016 This would bring tears to a glass eye. A very, very sad situation for the children profiled here. Living in a subway station and huffing paint fumes all day. I can't even imagine living that kind of existence. See more 04/15/2014 An estimated 20,000 children are living homeless in Bucharest due in part to the illegalization of contraceptives and abortions. These are a few of their unbelievable stories. See more 08/13/2013 One of the best (and saddest) documentaries I've ever seen. See more 07/26/2013 This powerful film documents the life of homeless children and will leave you reevaluating your perception of homelessness, drug use, and mental illness. At times, the movie is almost too intense to watch, as children are neglected, disregarded, and abused. However, when the camera finds these kids years later and more grown up, you empathize with their lost and broken mental state in a way I've never felt so acutely. It is easy to disregard our societal 'others' as insane or simply bad. Children Underground left me questioning this understanding and trying to place the homeless, insane, and criminal we all try to ignore in the light of their past experiences and our shared humanity. See more Read all reviews
Children Underground

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Cast & Crew

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Edet Belzberg

Director

Edet Belzberg

Producer

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Children Underground

Children Underground (2001) Children Underground (2001) Children Underground (2001) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis After the fall of communism in Romania, unwanted children in state orphanages escaped into the streets. These children are the subject of this documentary, which follows them into a subterranean world of hierarchy, hunger and drug use. The film focuses on five diverse children, including 12-year-old Mihai, who ran away from home due to his father's beatings, and Cristina, who passes for a boy. The filmmakers follow and record their daily lives, and the strained possibilities for reintegration.
Director
Edet Belzberg
Producer
Edet Belzberg
Distributor
Red Horse Inc.
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
Romanian
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 16, 2001, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 18, 2016
Runtime
1h 44m
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