This afternoon some friends and I went to see a couple documentary films at the Walker Art Center. The first film was "Ida's Story." Ida was a woman from the Ukraine. She was 8 years old and a middle child in her family in 1918 when the Cossacks attacked her village. Her parents are both dead and the children travel to the United States. They beg and steal food to survive their journey. Kind people help them out along the way. As an 8 year old, she is sent to do the begging and the stealing because she is too young to be raped and old enough to come back alive with the food. As we hear Ida's story, the filmmaker shows us pictures of other children in the same circumstance. That is how we learn Ida's story continues to be repeated the world over almost 100 years later.
"Pride of Lions" was the second film in the series. This tells the story of Sierra Leone- a former British colony on the west coast of Africa. Corruption, graft, amputees, war, child soldiers - this is a hard story to watch. I heard and saw some powerful stories. Today's experience puts all my minor problems in perspective. Very good film series.
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