Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageA.B.C. Africa (2001)
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Some have dismissed Kiarostami's documentary about children in Uganda orphaned by AIDS and civil war as 'conventional'; but how conventional is such a film when a few minutes only are devoted to depicting human suffering? Here, most of the kids on view - and adults, for that matter - are dancing, singing, joking and acting up for the DV camera. As such, even though the film was commissioned by the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development in order to draw attention to a programme of teaching self-help and home economics to women who agree to adopt orphans, it's firmly in the tradition of Kiarostami's earlier work about children. It's an unsentimental, but finally very moving celebration of innocence, courage, resilience and beauty; and there's even a witty, wonderfully enthralling and subtly appropriate sequence involving an electricity blackout and a thunderstorm, a dazzlingly cinematic bit of formal play which also reflects perceptively and poetically both on the kids' lives and on cinema itself.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Producer: Marin Karmitz, Abbas Kiarostami
Cast: Abbas Kiarostami, Seifollah Samadian full cast
Genre(s): Documentaries
Duration: 85 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Hippies who work for The Man
To celebrate George Clooney comedy 'The Men who Stare at Goats', we look back at six memorable onscreen hippies who fought the system from within
Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies
Ahead of the release of '2012', Roland Emmerich offers his ten tips on creating the perfect global catastrophe
Grant Heslov: interview
Grant Heslov, director of 'The Men who Stare at Goats' talks about his old pal George Clooney, his interest in the paranormal, and his fond memories of working on 'Happy Days'
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?
Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer
Michael Jackson's This Is It: review
Kenny Ortega's posthumous concert film is a rousing eulogy for one of pop's great enigmas
Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace
From Cannes to Munich to London, Dave Calhoun tours Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'
Lone Scherfig talks 'An Education'
Danish director Lone Scherfig was an unlikely choice for a very English affair like 'An Education'. Cath Clarke meets her
How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life
Time Out gets Romantic with the ‘difficult’ New Zealander about her new film, 'Bright Star'
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now