From the moment I decided to screen this film I knew my emotions were going to be overwhelmed.  And there is good reason this film has won almost twenty-awards to date. 

War Dance is about three children in war displacement camp in Africa (Patongo).  Over 60,000 people live in this camp, and it is under constant military protection from rebels.   This true documentary takes a look into the escape that a dance competition offers these children in the face of a hopeless future. 

The pace is slow at first, soaking in the understanding that without war, this world they live in would be beautiful.  We learn the brutal truth of how they live with the loss of their parents by rebel soldiers.  Unlike children here in America where 7 times out of 10 some glimpse of hope exist for a child, these children live in silent prisons of trauma knowing the parents and world they had before the war will never return.  On this note alone you understand their despair and how a dance competition is something they eagerly embrace and believe in because they will appreciate even a moment of solace from the reality they live in; a camp with thousands of people that don't know them and on a whole shows no signs of ever ending.

The first story told was not only gruesome, it was one that made you doubt humanity.