If I told you there was an Australian guy in Jalalabad taking advantage of lax Afghan child labour laws to hawk DVDs, you probably wouldn't feel too warmly toward him.
That's (part of) what director George Gittoes is doing. Gittoes acts as a sort of “sullied angel” to the street youths of Jalalabad. He gives them extra work, provides them with advice and guidance, and attempts to reconcile differences when he can.
But when a six-year-old girl builds a rickety stepladder out of dangerous rubble to get a closer look directly into a smokestack, he doesn't stop her. When a nine-year-old gang member describes how he uses razor blades to extort money from other kids, his response is, “Wow, you're tough.”
It's unclear whether Gittoes is dedicated to his role as an objective documentarian or simply desensitized to the type of life these kids lead, but his unwillingness to step in paints what appears to be a truly honest picture of what growing up dirt poor in Afghanistan is like.
The situation of the “ice cream boys” hawking their wares on the street contrasts perfectly with the young boys extorting money from folks in the park. Both are struggling to get by, but have chosen different paths. Both groups' futures are tied up in the whims of their higher-ups — their suppliers, their bosses and their parents.
On the technical side of things, the film's editing can be something of an assault on the senses, coming off at times as unnecessarily speaking for the chaotic environment instead of underscoring it.
Be prepared for jarring changes, blaring gunshots and extremely graphic imagery with little to no build-up. Seriously, if you're not ready to see grainy footage of a child holding up a severed head, or a man getting his hand chopped off, don't see this film.
If you can deal with that — or if your reflexes are quick enough to turn away at the right moment — your prize will be a deeper understanding of one of the world's most extreme poverty traps and the children who endure it each and every day.
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