Stolen Childhoods

This affecting documentary gives a pointed journalistic account of the working conditions faced by 246 million young laborers. Featuring interviews with Democratic Senator Tom Harkin, Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai and other human-rights activists, the doc also presents disturbing footage of exploited kids from across the globe, including coffee pickers in Kenya and teen prostitutes in Mexico City. Plenty of provocative commentary is offered—for example, Harkin's assertion that the slave-labor nations are a breeding ground for terrorists—but the film's most compelling evidence of youth exploitation is the testimony of the children themselves.