WUNRN
Women Make Movies - WMM
Direct Link to Film Segment:
Girl Child Soldiers - Film
Grace,
Milly, Lucy . . . Child Soldiers
A
film by Raymonde
Provencher
Canada/Uganda,
2010, 72 minutes, Color, DVD, Subtitled
“It’s
very easy to create a killing machine. Just imagine. You’re seven years old and
taken away from your family . . . your parents are killed in front of you or
you’re forced to kill somebody. Through all that you’re beaten . . . then
you’re given a gun and you’re told, ‘This gun is your life.’” – Grace Akallo
When we usually speak about child soldiers, we rarely realize that many of them
are girls. This little-known reality is underscored by the gripping personal
accounts of Grace Akallo, Milly Auma, and Lucy Lanyero in Raymonde Provencher’s
riveting, visually stunning film.
As
adults seeking to rebuild their lives, they are three among thousands of young
girls violently abducted from Ugandan villages by the Lord’s Resistance Army, a
rebel force that trained kidnapped girls to fight and kill, often forcing them
into child-bearing unions with their captors.
Back
in their village and internationally, these survivors of a shattered past help
women ex-rebels find a voice in the world, acceptance at home, and forgiveness
from one another. And joining forces with victims of other conflicts, they are
active in a global campaign, envisioning a more just world where their own and
all children are no longer tools of war.
With Empowering Hands (EH), the association they founded to share their
experiences and consolidate their efforts, they are working with children who
have been affected by war to help them readjust once they return to their
families. These women are determined: the victims’ voices must be heard and the
war in Uganda must be stopped. The future of an entire sacrificed generation
depends on it. Through moving first-hand accounts, CHILD SOLDIERS provides a gripping
portrayal of a generation shattered by violence and war. Interspersing personal
accounts with scenes from daily life, the documentary also uses a unique visual
and sound treatment that conjures up the stifled echoes of a repressed past.