ARTS: Child Soldiers In Focus

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Clive Freeman

BERLIN, Feb 13 2008 (IPS) - The bruising treatment of youngsters in many parts of the world, and the use of child soldiers in war-torn parts of Africa has emerged as a recurring theme at the 10-day Berlin International Film Festival, which ends here Sunday.

Much attention at the 58th Berlin Festival has been on &#39War Child&#39, a documentary by first-time director Christian Karim Chrobog. It relates the stunning story of singer Emmanuel Jal who, in the space of a decade, made a remarkable transition from child soldier in Sudan to international hip-hop musician.

Jal, now 28, was seven when his mother was killed. Soldiers raped his sister, and he was hauled off for military training by Sudanese Liberation Army forces in the late 1980s, and given an AK47 taller than himself.

Trapped in the midst of a civil war, he survived front-line action before escaping after five "lost" years with 300 other boys. They endured a three-month trek before reaching safety.

Chrobog, the Singapore-born son of a German diplomat, tells how the shy and talented Jal was later adopted by Emma McCune, a British aid worker with the children&#39s relief organisation Street Kids, after being smuggled to Kenya to continue his education.

In Nairobi, Jal was soon making a name as a rapper, singing in English, Arabic and Swahili. But was devastated, again, when Emma McCune was killed in a car crash shortly after she had adopted him.

Today, Jal is famous throughout Africa as a rapper, and for his work with the UN, Amnesty International and Oxfam in campaigning against employment of child soldiers and the illegal trade of arms. His first song Gua, which means "power" in Arabic, streaked to the top of the charts in Kenya.

Present for the world premiere of &#39War Child&#39, entered in the Festival&#39s Generation 14plus programme, Jal told IPS of his excitement at seeing the final edited version of the film in Berlin.

"The film is so important for me, for my future, and for all I want to achieve in the music industry," he said, as fans swarmed round him, mostly girls. Now London-based, Jal said hip-hop singing was a difficult game.

"It&#39s like a battlefield. Everybody seeks your attention. But, I&#39m not in this game because I want to be famous or because I want to make money. I am in it because it&#39s a healing passion for me, and I am representing my nation and my people. I&#39m their voice now."

Jal was reunited with his father, sister and other relatives in southern Sudan recently after a near 20-year enforced absence.

Another movie to go down well in Berlin has been &#39Tribu&#39 (Tribe) by Philippines director Jim Libiran. The film, in the Festival&#39s Panorama section, is set in Tondo, a notorious district in Manila where youth gangs parade the streets at night in search of quick fixes and dangerous thrills.

The Tondo-born Libiran had a novel idea when planning the film two years ago. "I didn&#39t have the money to employ professionals, so I sent posters all over Tondo asking the various gang leaders if they were interested in becoming actors," he told IPS.

"Knowing that most Filipinos dream of being actors, I was curious to see how they would react, and was astonished when 52 members belonging to seven different rival gangs showed up for auditions. Some arrived with guns and other weapons, and had to be persuaded to surrender them to a security guard before film workshop sessions." In time, many of the rival gang members became friends.

There were aftershocks, however. One gang-member-turned-actor was shot at five times by an assailant after the film&#39s completion. Another youth who acted in the film was stabbed three times when out walking with his girlfriend in Tondo.

"It was hard. People were telling me your movie is becoming real. Actually, it&#39s the other way round. The movie is real. If it doesn&#39t happen to you, it happens to other kids," said Libiran, a swarthy man, nicknamed "Fat Man" by gang members during the filming.

The suffering of children has been given much emphasis at the Festival. Abuse, illness, prostitution, the recruitment of child soldiers and other shocking twists of fate affecting the lives of the weakest members of society all get documented.

Some 21 movies from 19 countries, including Japan, Iran, China, Europe, Brazil, Mexico and the U.S. compete for the big prizes this year. Tipped to scoop the prestigious Golden Bear award is Paul Thomas Anderson&#39s eight times Oscar-nominated movie &#39There Will Be Blood&#39 starring Daniel Day Lewis as a prospector who sets off in search of silver in the west of America at the turn of the last century, finds oil instead, and soon becomes an incredibly rich, if ruthless, tycoon.

Veteran director Mike Leigh&#39s latest movie, &#39Happy Go Lucky&#39 starring Sally Hawkins as Poppy, a cute teacher who meets the challenges of modern life in London with an impish smile, and German director Doris Doerrie&#39s film &#39Cherry Blossoms&#39 dealing with the fate of an elderly couple, are also strongly favoured to win awards.