ABC Africa (2002)
78 %
Reviews Counted: 23 Fresh: 18 Rotten:5 Average Rating: 6.6/10
Runtime: 84 mins
Theatrical Release: May 3, 2002 Limited
Synopsis: Originally intended as a documentary about the orphans of Uganda's destructive civil war, Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami (TASTE OF CHERRY) expanded the scope of ABC AFRICA to include those stricken by Africa's massive AIDS epidemic and the people who work tirelessly to improve the... [More]
Genre: Education/General Interest
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Reviews
Despite the locale, ABC Africa is both new and familiar for those who know Kiarostami, and it's a great introduction for those who don't.
Comment
06/05/08
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02/09/06
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07/21/05
Top Critic
There is a sense here of an encroaching darkness humbly met, unburdened by one-note feelings such as fear or joy and simply experienced as a profound moment of enlightenment.
06/24/05
An upbeat personal film telling in an amiable touristy way the story of the Ugandan orphans.
05/09/05
Will do nothing to advance or detract from the reputation of the acclaimed Iranian filmmaker.
02/27/04
Top Critic
A gorgeous and surprisingly profound meditation on a place and its people.
02/27/04
Top Critic
Kiarostami has crafted a deceptively casual ode to children and managed to convey a tiny sense of hope.
02/24/03
Very much a home video, and so devoid of artifice and purpose that it appears not to have been edited at all.
02/20/03
Kiarostami profoundly displays Uganda's life and culture through his touristy pictures, as deceptively simple as the alphabet
12/25/02
So muddled, repetitive and ragged that it says far less about the horrifying historical reality than about the filmmaker's characteristic style.
08/16/02
There are more shots of children smiling for the camera than typical documentary footage which hurts the overall impact of the film. It's makes a better travelogue than movie.
08/16/02
The you-are-there style ultimately enhances ABC Africa's ability to get inside the soul of Uganda, and of the viewer.
08/15/02
Top Critic
A movie of seemingly limpid transparency and tremendous, understated compassion.
07/20/02
Top Critic
ABC Africa, with its impressionistic style, doesn't provide much in the way of facts ... but it does provide glimpses of the dying.
05/25/02
The people in ABC Africa are treated as docile, mostly wordless ethnographic extras.
05/21/02
Top Critic
The rich and surprising series of 'impressions' that comprise ABC Africa celebrate the orphans' resilience and, even amid such destitution, the richness of human experience.
05/13/02
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