Angels In The Dust (Cinema Libre DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: B Documentary: B
Marion
Cloete is an amazing woman in South Africa who has made a home for orphan
children part of a nightmarish situation who are victims of rampant abuse that
often includes HIV/AIDS infection. Their
parents, brothers and/or sisters die and they have nowhere to go, but instead
of having nowhere to turn, Louise Hogarth’s Angels In The Dust (2007) shows us how this woman has brought life
and hope against insanity where children are raped and exploited.
Part of
the problem is a sick myth dumb adults believe (or want to pretend to believe)
that they will be saved from AIDS if they have sex with a young virgin. Unfortunately, the country itself is doing
next to nothing to fix this, especially the government and it is a surprisingly
under-reported crisis in the press at large.
Where is the U.N. in all this?
How about the U.S. and other civilized/rich/first world countries with
the resources to help? Is part of this
from world racism? Would it be this way
if they had oil?
In the
meantime, these innocent children are forced for the worst reasons to grow up
fast and how they endure is amazing, as well as angering in that they should
not have to go through this. Fortunately,
this compassionate, smart, intelligent, impressive documentary delivers the
whole picture without illicit appeals to pity or condescending
manipulations. There are many political
and highly journalistic documentaries out there, but Angels In The Dust stands alone as one of the most important,
uncovering a big story being practically censored for too many years to
count. See it as soon as you can.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is a patchwork of various video formats,
many of which are soft analog video, but editing is very good and the subject
is so compelling that it is hard to turn away.
It is even more surprising that the Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is as clean
and clear as it is considering the tough circumstances this was shot in. Extras include PSAs on the subject, weblink,
how you can donate/help in the situation, deleted scenes and a director’s audio
commentary. All are informative and this
is a documentary with serious impact worth your time.
- Nicholas Sheffo
