Boys of Baraka

575 Words3 Pages
The film Boys of Baraka shows the story of four young twelve years old boys from one of the most dangerous and violent ghettos in Baltimore. Directed by Ewing and Grady, they used different themes and film techniques to show how the boys got a second chance in education and life. The theme that was carried throughout this documentary was that there is always hope and with help, you could go far in life. The film dealt with kids whose parents have failed them and those who are in risk of not graduating and in risk of going to jail early. One of them was dealing with a mother on drugs. One of them was dealing with his father in jail. They had many problems in school and almost all of them came from broken homes. Life in such a city full of drugs and violence can jeopardize and impact one’s future. Baltimore has one of the highest rates of murdering and crimes. It was ranked one of the top 25 most dangerous cities in the country. With the support and help from their families, with just one year in Africa, it completely changed the boys from their behaviors to their grades. According to the film, “in Baltimore, 61% of African-American boys do not graduate from high school”. One of the film methods Ewing and Grady used to achieve a purpose in the documentary was they put statistics and facts about Baltimore in black backgrounds to demonstrate how serious the problem in Baltimore was. Besides using statistics and facts, Ewing and Grady used many camera shots and focuses like tracking shots and zooming to emphasize how Africa is more inspiring than Baltimore. The kids were given a chance to grow up as children and not as criminals. In the beginning of the film when the kids first arrived in Baraka, they took a shot of the outside wild environment to show how peaceful Africa is and how the kids can play outside without having the fear of gunfire. There was also a lot of
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