When the Circus Came to Town

This is an odd piece that is far from the "inspirational" story claimed by its publicists. The internationally famous Cirque du Soleil sponsored two workshops for "street kids" in Montreal (the Cirque's home) and in Rio de Janeiro. The film seems intended as good PR for Cirque du Soleil--here seen being socially involved, teaching tumbling and circus tricks to underprivileged kids. The one similarity between the Canadian youth and the Brazilian children are their mutual deep drug dependencies. Despite the filmmakers' efforts to make them appear otherwise, the Montreal teenagers are a bunch of white middle class older teens going through their rebellion-against Mommy-and-her-stinking-rules phase. They have chosen to live on welfare and panhandle, while the (considerably younger) children in Brazil are forced into street life with no government safety net to catch them. One Brazilian expresses his wish for a house, a family and security; things the Montreal self-described punks deplore. The real star of this film is the housemother at the drop-in shelter where the Brazilian kids sometime live; the contrast between the Cirque's two week program of fun and games and the housemother's daily, on-going commitment to help street kids is pretty stark. The workshops' goal was to "encourage self-expression and confidence," but the Montreal teens had more than enough of both from the outset. If Cirque du Soleil really wants to enrich the lives of their local youth, they can send them to work in a Rio shelter where they will learn what real victimization, oppression, and social responsibility are about. Not inspiring and not recommended. Aud: P. (R. Reagan)