(2006) Film documentarians Sean and Andrea Nix Fine captured northern Ugandan orphans from a war zone redefining themselves as champions through their music and dance. In a relocation camp of 50,000, the children of the Patongo Primary School won their regional competition, qualifying them for the first time to perform in the National Music Competition in Kampala. "If we don't tell you, you won't know."

First, the statistics: in 2002 the Lord's Resistance Army attacked ancestral villages of the Acholi tribe, driving two million refugees into camps, representing 90% of the tribe; 200,000 children became orphans in the war.

Second, individuals: Nancy, 14 years old at the time of the film, lost her father four years earlier to the rebels, hacked to death with machetes and buried by her mother, who was abducted, leaving three younger siblings under the girl's care; xylophone player Dominic, also 14, was abducted when nine years of age and separated from his older brother (whom he never saw again) and forced for two weeks into being a child soldier, ordered to kill innocent farmers with their own hoes; Rose, 13, residing in the camp with her strict aunt, after hiding in the bush witnessed rebel soldiers removing heads from a cooking pot for the children to identify (including her parents').

Of the eight categories in which each school must compete as a team, the documentary focuses on western choral performance, instrumental composition, and traditional dance. The Patongo students perform their tribe's royal dance, the Bwola.

From the camp they travel 200 miles in two days to reach Kampala where they join 5000 other school children for recognition as judges assess the quality of 315 performances over three days. Coming from the war-torn north, having faced adversity and devastating disadvantages, the Patongo youths after hearing insults and facing intimidation from the more experienced competitors, exceed expectations.

Rose says that when she dances her problems and the camp disappear, replaced by pride in her musicianship and identity with her people.

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Copyright © 2008 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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