A.B.C. Africa

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Africa</div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="501" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="495"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="495" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> .</div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="575"><div> A.B.C. Africa  *** (Not Rated) </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Reviewed By Pam Singleton</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="549" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="545"><div> Tell me more</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="580" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div>  Directed by: Abbas Kiarostami</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div>   </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>30 Second Bottom Line</B>: Documentary examining the lives of the children orphaned in Uganda as a result of civil war and the AIDS epidemic in Africa.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Story Line:</B> Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami was invited to film a documentary about Uganda's civil war by the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). For ten days in March 2000 he and a small crew, with hand held digital video cameras, captured the faces, and the emaciated and dying bodies of hundreds of the over 1 million orphans of war and AIDS. The devastating story told here centers on the wages of AIDS.  </div> <bR> <div> As Kiarostami's team pulls into Kampala, roadside billboards encourage the use of condoms to quell the spread of HIV and AIDS; a cautionary warning to a nation of 22 million people with those two diseases affecting nearly 2 million. There is a strange kind of playfulness and joy reflected in the faces of the children when the cameras are pointed in their direction. You can't help but wonder…How can this be? These are after all just children like millions of others all over the world when they are the center of attention. Another explanation might be that these children and adults must snatch every lighthearted moment possible. Doctors and nurses in the hospitals offer smiles as they go about the interminable tasks of caring for the dying under egregious circumstances. </div> <bR> <div> The camera eases us into a coffin factory and at another time, an AIDS care center. We sit in somber silence as a very young child's body is wrapped in cloth and placed in a cardboard coffin. The crew is plunged into harrowing moments of pitch-blackness when the electricity fails at the hotel late at night.</div> <bR> <div> With 1.5 million children who have lost one or both parents to war and disease, grandmothers are responsible for their care. The IFAD program helps supplement their income to care for these orphans. We meet some of the women who open their homes and hearts, caring for as many as 5 to 35 children at a time. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Tell Me More About It</B>: Kiarostami floods this film with warm colors and bright moments in spite of the subject matter. He steps into the frame of several shots and allows his voice to be heard interacting on occasion. This can be at the least distracting, and can even make one question the veracity of the <I>reactions</I> seen on screen; but we never question the terrible truth being told.   </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div>   Not Rated  (suitable for general audiences)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Pam Singleton © 2002</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com"><U><U>pam@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Mini Filmography </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="549" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Abbas Kiarostami: <I>The Wind Will Carry Us, Taste of Cherry</I></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>