This illuminating documentary from sibling filmmakers John and Louise Woehrle traces the history of the African nation of Sierra Leone since 1961, when it won independence from Britain in a bloodless transition. At the time, the capital city of Freetown was a showcase, but the rest of the country was grievously underdeveloped. After the leadership turned dictatorial, a popular resistance movement was born—the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)—which ultimately fell under the sway of a Libyan-trained warlord, plunging Sierra Leone into a horrific civil war lasting from 1991 to 2002. Children were conscripted as combatants and forced to kill—starting with their own parents—and the RUF became notorious for amputating the limbs of enemies and civilians. Co-director and novice activist John Woehrle and medical relief worker Dan Kelly arrive in this wounded nation with good intentions, although it takes considerable effort to convince folks that they want to help and are not just another pair of white outsiders coveting the region's infamous “blood diamonds.” But the focus here is on the survivors of the strife, as archival and contemporary footage punctuates interviews with various people—a doctor, a school principal, a former boy soldier, a businessman, a diamond miner, an amputee victim of rebel terror, and a couple who return after three decades in London to take up their roles as Paramount Chief and First Lady—who relate their experiences and hopes for the future. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)
Pride of Lions
(2009) 84 min. DVD: $90. Whirlygig Productions (dist. by The AV Cafe). PPR. Volume 26, Issue 2
Pride of Lions
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