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Boys of Baraka, The
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 20 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 5 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Documentary
Written by:
Directed by:
Heidi Ewing
Rachel Grady
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 30, 2005
DVD: June 6, 2006
Running Time: 83 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
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 in Kenya, East Africa. Here, faced with a strict academic and disciplinary program as well as the freedom to be normal teenage boys, these brave kids began the daunting journey towards putting their lives on a fresh path. This documentary focuses on four of these boys and captures their amazing journey. (Loki Films)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Jesus Camp
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site Film Forum Profile
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Overflowing with comedy and drama, The Boys of Baraka unfolds on the mean streets of Baltimore and in the wide-open spaces of Kenya.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
The Boys of Baraka leaves you outraged in the way only the best documentaries can.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
There are many tragedies and accomplishments here, without the engineered uplift afflicting any number of lesser documentaries.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
Ewing and Grady could have done a better job filling in each boy's back story, as well as explaining exactly how Baraka started and what its agenda is. But the film is clearly a labor of love, portraying the lives of its subjects with tremendous intimacy and passion.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
A moving, troubling documentary. Moving because of the nature of the problem it explores, troubling because the film can't help but underline that simple solutions are never going to present themselves, no matter how much we want them to.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Rich, sweet, densely layered and deeply satisfying. A film that might have been a dry exercise in earnest nonfiction filmmaking becomes a soaring, artistically complex testament to survival, character and hope.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Sensitive, intelligent, enlightening, and sometimes surprising.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Eric Campos
An entertaining experience as the filmmakers focus on a few select boys who provide a wealth of charm as they struggle with their new surroundings.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
The results are amazing, though bittersweet, and demonstrate how complicated and expensive it is (though not impossible) to break the cycle of poverty, crime and lack of education.
Read Full Review >New York Post V.A. Musetto
Seventy percent of black boys in Baltimore do not graduate from high school. They're more likely to land in jail -- or a cemetery. But there is hope, according to The Boys of Baraka, an uplifting documentary.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Here is a movie that makes you want to do something. Cry, or write a check, or howl with rage.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
The Boys of Baraka is so rich that you wish there were more of it.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Sura Wood
The docu is not visually innovative, but the content more than makes up for what it lacks in style.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White
The most interesting moments in the film are the videotapes sent back and forth between the parents and students, as they communicate the sadness of children separated from their distant families.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
Ewing and Grady practically squander the African material, and The Boys Of Baraka doesn't really come to life until the boys return to Baltimore for what turns out to be a permanent summer vacation, due to political unrest overseas.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ernest Hardy
The kids absolutely win your heart, but there's something off-putting in the film's lazy juxtaposition of unexamined Negro dysfunction tropes (absent fathers, violent streets) against an idyllic Africa tended by white benevolence.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Laura Sinagra
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.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
K. Douglas gave it a7:
Like Hoop Dreams,both hopeful and heartbreaking.Unlike H.D.,not enough background material to fully satisfy the audience.
M & V gave it a10:
We both loved the Boys of Baraka. Especially the hedgehog!
Gregory M. gave it an8:
I saw this at the Chicago International Film Festival with a friend of mine who was a residential counselor at this school for 3 years. The film is well made and poignant, crafted with surprising skill from its freshmen directors. Unfortunately, there is a lot they left out for political purposes so a film that sets out to examine urban life, poverty, crime and race ends up neglecting the institutionalization of these same problems.
