Invisible Children: Rough Cut

Abstract

Children, Youth and Environments Vol. 18 No. 1 (2008) ISSN: 1546-2250 Media Review Invisible Children: Rough Cut. George Awuor University of Colorado Citation: Awuor, George. (2008). "Media ReviewInvisible Children: Rough Cut.." Children, Youth and Environments 18 (1). Laren Poole and Jason Russell (2006). Invisible Children: Rough Cut. Invisible Children and People Like You Productions. English (1 hour) Invisible Children is a documentary based on the lives of children affected by the conflict in Northern Uganda. Bobby Bailey, Jason Russell and Laren Poole, three young Americans from California, originally went to Africa in 2003 to witness the devastating civil war in Southern Sudan. This civil war between the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) of the secular South and the predominantly Muslim and Arab Sudanese government in Khartoum was fought from 1983 to 2005 and is estimated to have claimed more than 2 million lives and displaced millions of people. When the three Americans reached their destination in Sudan, they found a desolate environment. There was evidence of war but the population had fled to neighboring countries, includingUganda, where many had relocated to refugee camps. The Americans decided to follow the Sudanese refugees to Northern Uganda. There they discovered another conflict between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government that has lasted more than 17 years. This war is unknown to most of the international world but has resulted in thousands of deaths, and the displacement and abduction of thousands of children and their families. Much of the misery and death from conflicts in Africa such as this one are due to issues of sharing resources and power. 532 The Acholi people who reside in Northern Uganda resent the neglect they experience from the Ugandan government. Led by a self-styled “prophet,” Alice Lakwena, some Acholis formed the LRA and initiated a war with the government in 1986. After her death, the notorious Joseph Kony took over, but with less support from the local Acholi community. In order to build the LRA’s ranks, he resorted to terrorizing the local community and abducting children between the ages of 5 and 12 from schools and villages. Invisible Children: Rough Cut features a few of the boys who managed to escape from the rebels. The boys recount how child abductees were beaten, forced to beat and kill civilians, and abduct other children. The images of young children in combat are a disturbing reminder of the experiences of the “lost boys” of Sudan who were abducted by the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) during its rebel movement. According to a 2003 Human Rights report, children in the LRA are given weapons training and are forced to fight against the Ugandan government army. The film portrays this harsh reality, as well as that of girls who are abducted and forced to become domestic servants for commanders or are taken as “wives.” They are exposed to sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. Afraid of abduction, large numbers of children lie together on the verandas at night throughout the city of Gulu. Cameras follow six boys as they prepare for a night in a corridor at the basement of Lacor hospital. The boys begin by mopping up water that has leaked into the corridor, and then work on their homework with a dim light from a tin lamp before they lay down on thin mats on the cold concrete floor for another “safe” night. In the film, an American aid worker, a Ugandan member of parliament, a local historian and two local journalists articulate the plight of the desperate Acholi children. They all passionately plead with the Ugandan government and the world community to come to the rescue of the children. Traces of trauma show up in the drawings and the aggressive games the children play. Amidst the fear, pain, hunger and sadness, the children try to make the best of their lives. The resilience exhibited by the children is well- 533 documented in the film. They attend school, play soccer in the open fields and remind the world that they are innocent children with the same instincts and needs as other children elsewhere. I encourage everyone to see Invisible Children: Rough...