All the Invisible Children (2005)

Must See Movie...

Disappointment for a huge fan!

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The World is not always a beautiful place. This movie, that exist of multiple small movies, shows a few of the world's problems... especially in relation to children.Because the subject is important and the stories are realistic, there is already enough reason to watch it. Not every sub-movie is as strong as the other. But they all tell their own story and overall I liked it very much. Also don't forget that some big names have been involved in creating this movie, to name some: Spike Lee, Ridley Scott and John Woo.It has almost no action, certainly no exploding special effects. But it does have drama, laughter and shocking moments... go see it.

The project "All the Invisible Children" has the intention to disclose through seven short stories, the terrible situation, with the lost of innocence and lack of perspective of abused children in some countries in the Twentieth-First Century through the eyes of seven directors.1) "Tanza": Mehdi Chafer shows a boy called Tanza in an undefined country in Africa fighting in a civil war with machine gun and explosives, and dreaming on having his home and going to school. This theme could be very powerful, since there are many civil wars in Africa and use of children as soldiers, but this short never works and is completely boring. My vote is three.2) "Uros": Emir Kusturica shows a gypsy boy called Uros in his last day in a juvenile prison in Serbia-Montenegro without any other perspective but returning to the place. The black-humor never works and the story is pointless and pretentious. My vote is four.3) "Jesus Children of America": Spike Lee shows a HIV positive girl called Blanca, daughter of junkies' parents with Aids and the cruelty of her schoolmates in school in the best episode of this film. My vote is nine.4) "Bilu and João": Kátia Lund gives an optimistic approach of two homeless children that fight to survive working on the streets, collecting beer and soda tins and paper to sell in a junkyard, and transporting shops in street fairs. Kátia Lund lost the chance to disclose the terrible situation of street children in Brazil, and how our society is indifferent to such a social problem. My vote is five.5) "Jonathan": Jordan and Ridley Scott show a photographer correspondent of war in pain for his past experiences. This tale is simply awful, empty and shows the absolutely alienated vision of the childhood problem of these directors, actually the worst story. My vote is two.6) "Ciro": Stefano Veneruso shows a young boy in Naples that pickpockets to survive. This short is interesting and has a good conclusion. My vote is seven.7) "Song Son and Little Cat": John Woo shows a beautiful, but shallow tale of fantasy, with a homeless orphan and a spoiled wealthy girl. The short is beautiful and probably the most elaborated one, but does not reach the objective of this collection of films. My vote is six.Therefore, in spite of the good intention of the producers of "All the Invisible Children", the result is irregular, flawed and only reasonable. My (global) vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Crianças Invisíveis" ("Invisible Children")

"All the Invisible Children" is a collective, multinational effort to depict and understand how the world is (mis)treating its own future -- the children of the 2000s. The seven episodes are directed by Mehdi Charef (from Burkina Faso), Emir Kusturica (Serbia-Montenegro), Spike Lee (USA), Kátia Lund (Brazil), Jordan & Ridley Scott (GB), Stefano Veneruso (Italy) and John Woo (China). Some thoughts on each of them:TANZA -- Mehdi Charef's episode could have been powerful; after all, 10-year-old children carrying machine guns and fighting real wars are a horror the world never knew before the mid-20th century (it's not been going on for decades or centuries, it can be reversed!). Unfortunately, Charef opts for a lush, stylish, Nike-ad-like photography (to portray such a bleak existence!) and a contrived finale that weakens the whole effort. One of the least successful episodes.UROS -- Then comes Emir Kusturica's volcanic life force! Undoubtedly the best episode, Kusturica uses his megawatt energy to follow young Uros' last day in a reform school -- but is he really willing to leave? In barely a few minutes, Kusturica sketches full characters through wonderful casting and small precise touches, using gypsy music like a snake charmer; and suddenly it's like we've KNOWN those people for year -- the optimistic warden, the clumsy orchestra leader, the sleazy father, the smart smoking brat...Kusturica has this special gift for mixing broad comedy and social comment with lots of sarcasm, and brings up an uncomfortable question -- which is more dangerous for delinquent kids, the violence they have to put up with in reform schools or the one out there in the streets? If you only have time to see ONE episode, this is it, hands down.Jesus CHILDREN OF America -- Spike Lee's episode is rather irregular, but impressive and important because of its very contemporary and unadorned approach of a complex subject: HIV+ children in the 2000s. How has the world been treating them now that the disease has faded into the background of the media's interest? Lee shows us teenage HIV+ Blanca, chased around by schoolmates who make cruel, remorseless fun(!) of her condition. At home, things also suck, with her junkie, hopelessly irresponsible HIV+ parents (the father is a Gulf War veteran). Blanca startlingly becomes aware that she will have to face a lifetime of prejudice and discrimination and will probably have to deal with her disease all by herself, with very little help from family, friends, school, society or government (and that in America, mind you!!). There is also a great scene about America's fascination (and desensitization) with violence, when Blanca and sassy schoolmate LaQueeta get into a fight at school and a bunch of school kids immediately take out their cell phones to snap shots at their fight. Bull's eye!BILU E JOÃO - Kátia Lund (co-director of "City of God") goes against the current and makes an optimistic film about one of the harshest places in the world to be a young destitute child: Brazil. The theme is child labor, but you may not even notice it, as Bilu and João seem so resilient and upbeat you might think it's an OK choice for small children to earn their own living carrying and selling heavy junk instead of going to school. The editing is hectic and confusing, and the children are artificially directed to look cute. Misleading, superficial and disappointing.JONATHAN - Ghastly... Jordan Scott and her father Ridley are so alienated they seem to live in Dreamland...or aristocratic England (which is just as bizarre for the rest of us). This is a crappy, silly fantasy about a disgrace-specialized-photographer (you know the kind) who's having an angst fit. He flashbacks to his idle, privileged, proper British childhood, but finds time to dream of protection for young war refugees. This is the worst sort of patronizing b***s**t, filmed like a country house ad for highbrow magazines. It's a vain, stylized soufflé by people who had nothing important to say.CIRO -- Ciro is a Neapolitan boy, ignored by his parents, whose petty (and not so petty) thefts are an example of teenage delinquent behavior that's become nearly endemic in Naples and in the world's major cities. There are also very discreet shades of pedophilia. The real interest here, though, is Vittorio Storaro's vibrant, almost palpable cinematography with a mesmerizing color and light palette -- the scenes where Ciro plays with his shadow against the sunlight are astonishingly beautiful and touching. But inexperienced director Stefano Veneruso remains in the shadow too; all we care for are Storaro's canvases.SONG SONG AND LITTLE CAT -- or how John Woo managed to plagiarize Shirley Temple's pictures! Not since Hollywood-against-Depression 1930s has there been such shameless schmaltz as in this story about two young girls (rich-but-unhappy Song Song and homeless-but-with-endless-joy-in-her- heart Little Cat). It's so sickeningly cute it may give you a hyperglycemia shock. And somebody's got to tell Woo it's time he let go of those irritating slow-motion shots. "All the Invisible Children" faces a gigantic task: to denounce the horrors children face daily around the world while trying to strengthen our hope in the(ir) future and making us think out ways to help. A VERY hard task, because the real world keeps relentlessly crashing our hopes by the hour. My vote: 6 stars out of 10, though I'll always give a 1,000 stars for anyone ready to make films about unprivileged and abused children, the world's biggest and most urgent political issue.

I was lucky enough to see the film yesterday and I have to say I loved it!!! Only two out of the seven short films were a bit on the bad side, but overall a very good film. I'll try to keep my comments spoiler-free for those who haven't seen it, but there is one on the final comment (there's a note right before it).TANZA This is the first short film presented and I have to say one of the weakest. I would have preferred to see the characters speaking in their native tongue and have subtitles there rather than hearing them attempt to speak English, it made the whole thing a bit unnatural, and the end result is not really satisfying in my opinion. BLUE GYPSY This was one of my favorites. The lovely balance of humor and dramatic undertones eventually collide in an impressive and gripping result. Loved it!!! Jesus CHILDREN OF America A great one as well! The little kid actress is wonderful and there is some pretty heavy stuff on this one. The ending scene was not very good though, but everything else in this short makes-up for this little "mistake". JOAO AND BILU This was another one of my favorites. There's nothing too dramatic on this one but therein lies it's beauty, in it's simplicity. CIRO Another great short. I loved the whole shadow play and in the end it really goes to the core of what being a child is. JONATHAN This one was definitely the worst. Pretentious and completely uninteresting, it doesn't even come close to the quality of all the other ones. SONG SONG AND LITTLE CAT (*contains SPOILERS*) This one was awesome and it could have been the best one of them all if John Woo hadn't exploded its resources. It starts off very well and it has many heart-wrenching moments but we really could have done without the explicit shot of the "grandfather" holding the old pencil, or any of the ending shots for that matter. I would have ended it on the girl looking at the kids in school, it would have been more powerful to end it like that rather than force it to be a happy ending, I mean come on! The grandpa saying "goodbye" through the window, we did not need that! Anyways, in spite of all that I really loved it. And OMG it ends and the BEAUTIFUL, Oscar-deserving song "Teach Me Again" by Elisa (featuring Tina Turner) comes up!!!!!! Can't think of a better way to end a movie :)