Hollow City (First Run/Global Lens)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: C+     Film: C+

 

 

Maria Joao Ganga’s Hollow City (2004) repeats the familiar story of young children and early teens being left unattended and allowed to drift into the worst situations in what used to be an occasional film pointing to such troubles.  It has now become a cycle of such films about kids in trouble and poverty in The Third World or increasingly troubled parts of even the most prosperous countries.  The distinction here is that this is about Angola after yet another underreported civil war.

 

War orphan N’dala runs away from the caretakers who are helping him since the war ended, deciding to look for his true village home.  If that was not bad enough, a missionary nun is after him who he wishes would just go away.  The film is real and sometimes raw, yet is predictable and sadly offers much of what we have seen done better in films like Hector Babenco’s Pixote.  That the story keeps repeating just reminds us how the world has failed its future generations.

 

The 1.78 X 1 image is lacking in detail and color range enough to be annoying throughout, while the Dolby Digital Portuguese 2.0 is simple stereo at best.  Extras include two sections on other Global Lens releases, DVD-ROM PDF discussion guide, stills, a text intro by the director and text bio of the director.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo