Children Underground (2001)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Edet Belzberg

Release Date:

5 October 2003 (Australia)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Subway | Child Care | Homelessness | Subway Train | Runaway

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Cristina Ionescu	...	Herself
Mihai Alexandre Tudose	...	Himself
Violeta 'Macarena' Rosu	...	Herself
Ana Turturica	...	Herself
Marian Turturica	...	Himself
Alexandru Beschina	...	Himself
Florin Ionut Calciu	...	Himself
Adrian Chiru	...	Himself
Romulus Cristescu	...	Himself
Ilie Fonfonile	...	Himself
Doru Grigore	...	Herself
Anca Hotnog	...	Herself
Claudia Luca	...	Herself
Angela Preda	...	Herself
Adrian Susanu	...	Himself

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

Romanian

Color:

Color

Company:

Belzberg Films

A stand-out in a crowded genre.

This is a very powerful documentary of the lives of children in Romania in the late 1990's living in a subway station. By careful filming and concentrating on five children ranging in age from 8 to 15, and by using mostly their own words and interactions, the stark realities of their survival are allowed to show themselves rather than being extracted by force. The follow-up material at the end of the film as well as in the supplements on the DVD are as significant for the effect on the viewer as the body of the documentary. Although the home conditions from which these young people fled are repugnant to our sensibilities, it's clear there is more to their endurance of street life than that. When one boy is asked what he likes best about living in the streets, he thinks a moment and then shouts, "I get to live FREE!" and does a little dance to illustrate. How sad that children should have to sacrifice such basic amenities as health care and education to get a little control over their own lives. In an interview, the film-maker confesses that the most difficult task of all was not intervening as these small people were beaten and insulted, and as they remained perpetually intoxicated on volatile solvents. I agree with the choice. Intervention in the immediate term would not have altered the course of any of their lives, and the impact of the film would have been destroyed. I hope that BOTH lessons here are not lost on the audience -- not only what privations follow a society's collapse, but also what children and ALL humans are willing to suffer in order to gain some personal autonomy.