Under the Umbrella Tree

Filmmaker Leonard Lie's documentary focuses on Victoria Nalango Namusisi, the founder of the Bright Kids children's home in Uganda, who recalls that her fisherman father encouraged her to get an education so that she wouldn't have to work long hours in the hot sun (like her mother, who picked sweet potatoes). As an adult, Victoria reached out to children in need by showing up in parts of Kampala where they tended to congregate. To these victims of war, child abuse, and disease, she brought mangoes, bananas, and words of encouragement. The interviews with Namusisi are conducted by producer Pauline Greenlick, whose University of Pittsburgh professor husband, Louis Picard, worked with Namusisi's mentor, Manuel X. Pinto, in the 1960s. Picard and Greenlick oversee an internship program that brings students to work with the children. Lie also speaks with former residents, such as Medi Bugembe, who was eating from a garbage dump before he came to Bright Kids. Namusisi has even adopted some of the children in order to provide them with legal protection. The residents, in turn, help raise money by looking after cows, pigs, and chickens (the milk and eggs provide food, while the sale of livestock serves as a source of funding). This sustainability seems likely to ensure a more secure future for Bright Kids than a reliance on grants and donations alone. Under the Umbrella Tree often plays more like a promotional video than a straightforward documentary, but Namusisi provides a humanitarian model that is worth emulating. A strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)