Product Description

Set in war-raved Northern Uganda, the award-winning WAR DANCE will touch your heart with a real-life story about a group of children whose love of music brings joy, excitement and hope back into their poverty-stricken lives. Three children who have suffered horrific brutalities momentarily forget their struggles as they participate in music, song and dance at their school. Invited to compete in a prestigious music festival in their nation’s capitol, their historic journey is a stirring tale about the power of the human spirit to triumph against tremendous odds.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13485 in DVD
• Brand: THINKFILM LLC
• Released on: 2008-04-15
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 107 minutes

Features

• Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine's WAR DANCE is a powerful documentary that follows a group of schoolchildren as they overcome nearly insurmountable odds in their quest to participate in the annual Kampala Music Festival. For over 20 years, Northern Uganda has been a war zone, and as a vicious rebel force, the Lord's Resistance Army, has run rampant, destroying villages, kidnapping children,

Amazon.com
The superb documentary War/Dance reveals the redemptive power of music, even in the most horrific places. Focusing on three children in their early teens in war-torn Uganda--stoic Nancy, driven Dominic, and soft-spoken Rose--War/Dance tracks the efforts of the school of a refugee camp called Patongo to compete in Uganda's countrywide music competition. The contrasts are staggering; in interviews, the children describe their parents being killed by rebel soldiers, then footage of rehearsal shows them joyfully singing and dancing with their classmates. Some of the sequences are harrowing (a scene where Nancy grieves for her murdered father is painful to watch), but without them, we wouldn't understand how hard-won are the feelings of pride and accomplishment as their school performs for the competition's judges. The built-in structure of the competition gives this documentary a clear and engrossing storyline, much like Spellbound or Mad Hot Ballroom, but the heartbreaking circumstances and the emotional openness of the three teenagers makes War/Dance even more compelling. In one particularly striking scene, Dominic talks to a captured rebel officer, hoping to learn if his brother is still alive. As they talk, the soldier--who's around the age Dominic's brother might be--tries to be helpful, and explains almost offhandedly why the brother is most likely dead. The casualness of this conversation, devoid of Hollywood histrionics, speaks volumes about how violence has infiltrated these people's daily lives. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Beautiful and Sombering
The cinematography of Africa and war torn Uganda is beautiful, amazing, and saddening in "War Dance". It serves a a bleak backdrop for an enlightening film set in a refuge camp where a group of children, scarred by civil war, learn their tribal dance to compete in the national dance competition.

The most heart-breaking and genuine moment of War Dance is when a former child soldier confronts a captured rebel soldier about why he (the soldier) participated in kidnapping children and indoctrinating them into becoming children soldiers. The bravery of that small child and the empty soulless response of the soldier were the most powerful scene's in a film full of them. I highly recommend this film!!

Another overlooked Sundance film
I saw this film at the Sundance film festival in 2007 and was completely blown away by the originality of weaving together documentary, dance, music, war, and horrific pain suffered by lovely children. I don't believe it gained any wide popularity which is unfortunate because while it is a heart-wrenching story, there is so much joy and hope at the end of the movie, you start to believe anything is possible...beautiful cinematography (may inspire my own journey to Uganda), amazing music, and just an overall lovely film.

War Dance
This was by far, hands down the best documentary film I've seen. The content needs to be brought to the awareness of all people in possesion of a TV/DVD player. The cinematography and editing was beautiful and amazing. It looked and felt like I was across the other side of the world there with these beautiful children. The stories of the children presented from their perspective in their own words will move you to tears and simply must be seen to understand and feel what they have suffered through and experienced. What I loved most about this film besides the stories, the people, the music and dance, is the message of hope and healing that is possible for these children with a little help from people who care enough to do something.