On the Way to School

We've all heard running jokes about our elders walking for miles to school through snow drifts and other discomforts. Filmmaker Pascal Plisson's documentary illustrates how for some children in different parts of the world, making their way to classroom instruction is indeed a long and daunting process. In Kenya, a boy named Jackson and his sister are warned by their father to steer clear of dangerous elephant herds as they stumble over nine miles to get to school (at one point, the siblings choose to circle around giraffes). In Morocco, determined Zahira struggles over mountainous terrain for more than 13 miles to arrive at her classes. Over in India, the disabled Samuel is pushed to school in a wheelchair by his brothers for almost 90 minutes. And in Argentina, young Carlito and his sister ride a horse for 11 miles over Patagonian backdrops to see their teachers. The visually exotic On the Way to School records a day in the life of these youngsters as they push through their exhausting treks in order to get an education. But in some ways, the film feels a bit dubious—like those classic Disney nature films in which the raw material of life is tweaked to tell a glorified version of the facts. Here, camera placement, multiple angles, and cued action all blur the line between fact and narrative. Yet it's hard not to be stirred by the commitment of these little travelers to get to their desks on time. Recommended, overall. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)