The film War Child is C Karim Chrobog's documentary biopic about Sudanese rapper Emmanuel Jal.  The film is playing exclusive one-week engagements in New York (Village East Cinema, November 14-20) and Washington DC (Landmark E Street Cinema, December 5-11).  Afropop’s Banning Eyre attended the opening in New York.  Here’s his review.

If there is a more affecting documentary film about a young musician in any time or setting, I have not seen it.  During the 1980s, as Sudan’s Arab/Muslim north went to war against its African/Christian/animist south, Emmanual Jal endured things no child should:  scorched earth military raids on villages, the death of his mother, a boat capsizing in which some 300 children drowned and barely fifty survived, a barefoot trek that became so desperate that boys were prepared to eat their dead comrades, the dreariness of life in a refugee camp, and then recruitment into a boys’ militia of the SPLA (the Sudan People’s Liberation Army).  Jal fought the first of four hair-raising armed battles when he was just nine years old.  And all this is only the setup to the similarly remarkable story of Jal’s rise as a popular rapper and social activist.  This is a hell of a yarn, but War Child is also an artfully conceived and powerful film that knows how to handle disturbing material and still inspire. 

Jal’s story is dense and full of surprises.  Time after time, benefactors sense something special about him and reach out to help.  Fortunately for filmmaker Chrobog, we don’t have to take anyone’s word that Jal has always stood out from the crowd.  Thanks to a UN documentary filmed in a Kenyan refugee camp, we actually meet him as a voluble seven-year-old and it is clear in this footage—the emotional center of the film—that he is a person of exceptional poise, and a natural leader, even at this tender age.  We see why he survived physical and emotional challenges many could not, and why British foreign aid worker Emma McCune—credited with rescuing 150 child soldiers before her tragic death in a car accident in 1993—took Jal personally under her wing following his escape from the SPLA.  More than anyone else, Jal credits McCune for his transformation. 

War Child intersperses interview and concert clips, scenes of warfare and refugee camps, and of Jal addressing diverse, spellbound audiences in the US the UK and Kenya, with footage from his remarkable journey back to Kenya and Sudan, some 18 years after he left his home and village.  These reunions mix joy and pain as Jal reconnects with his sister in Kenya (struggling to overcome the trauma of rape), his beloved grandmother in Sudan (a salty old woman with missing front teeth), and most powerfully of all his father, a former SPLA commander who effectively abandoned young Jal to the struggle.  The awkwardness of this reunion is palpable and makes the entire exercise of return seem more than an event staged for the camera. 

The film goes back over the same material at times, but given the complexity of the story and its unfamiliarity to most Americans, this is not a major flaw.  Jal’s music—terrific in its own right—is well integrated into the narrative.  Chrobog gives us just enough talking heads explaining the intricacies of Sudan’s economy and politics to contextualize Jal’s raps.  After hearing John Pendergast explain the activities of mining and oil companies in Sudan’s south, it’s a visceral thrill to hear Jal rapping, “To Mr. Oil, Diamond and Gold Miner/ Stop treating Mama Africa like a vagina/She’s not your whore, not anymore/ You take the riches and you leave the people poor.”  In one lyrical passage, Jal celebrates the beauty of Africa expressing his belief that Sudan could one day know peace and prosperity.  Images of natural riches and human beings striving against the odds underscore the meaning of his words.  Coming from this battle scarred rapper—so tough yet fundamentally sweet—the sentiment is moving rather than mawkish. 

Jal’s narration is a boon to the storytelling throughout.  He speaks in a soft voice, musical if at times affectless, but his words are clear and precise, brutally frank, and graced with an ironic sense of humor difficult to resist.  Jal’s embrace of social activism is highlighted in his commitment to support the education of eight former child soldiers (so far), and his creation of Gua Africa, a foundation aimed at building a modern school in his war ravaged home village, Leer.  Chrobog and Jal make this tale of transformation—from “lost boy,” to fearless killer, to saved soul, to entertainer and activist—tangible without being emotionally manipulative.  Make no mistake:  you will cry during this film.  But you will also leave the theatre with a heart full of hope, even joy. 

Banning Eyre’s interview with Emmanuel Jal
Purchase or download WarChild CD and DVD at www.WarChildMovie.com
Get involved with Gua Africa at www.gua-africa.org