A deeply moving film about Africa's AIDS orphans left to fend for themselves.
Theirs is no normal childhood. They are the millions of children whose parents have died of AIDS. They have no time to grieve. They are the parents.
Filmed over a 7-month period, Their Brothers' Keepers goes inside Chazanga Compound, a shantytown in Lusaka, Zambia and follows the day-to-day struggles of two child-headed families. We see how Benny, Dorris and Paul cope with a lack of food, water, health care, and schooling. They scramble for piecework to buy mealie-meal for their younger siblings. Local aid and community workers give support but lack the necessary resources. Foreign aid is too thin to trickle down.
The film alternates between the broader view and the personal detail, between tragedy and hope. Stunning photography and an exquisite musical score contrast with the surreal lives of these heroic kids.
Throughout the film, excerpts from speeches by Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, is their passionate advocate. "This pandemic has done something dreadful to our instinct for compassion. What is wrong with the world? One might also ask, what will happen if a generation of Africans grows up without parents, social structures or the basic necessities of life?"
Their Brothers' Keepers is about children determined to survive. They are the future of Zambia, and Africa. How much longer can we stand by?
Award
~ Best Social/Political Documentary and Best Photography, Yorkton Film & Video Festival
Ecofilms, Rhodes
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