| | | "The War Stole Everything, Except Their Music."
Features: DVD, English, Subtitled
Set in Northern Uganda, a country ravaged by more than two decades of civil war, War Dance tells the story of Dominic, Rose, and Nancy, three children whose families have been torn apart, their homes destroyed, and who currently reside in a displaced persons camp in Patongo. When they are invited to compete in an annual music and dance festival, their historic journey to their nation's capital is also an opportunity to regain a part of their childhood and to taste victory for the first time in their lives.
"...a film that is as unflinching as it is uplifting." Ken Fox, TV Guide
"An enormously emotional and spirit-raising documentary." Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
"...the testimonies of these children are excruciatingly moving." Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
"Beautifully filmed." Rachel Howard, San Francisco Chronicle
"...among the most affecting films I've seen all year; it cuts to the core of being and gives individual faces to sorrow and to hope." Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Editor's Note
Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine's WAR DANCE is a powerful documentary that follows a group of schoolchildren as they overcome nearly insurmountable odds in their quest to participate in the annual Kampala Music Festival. For over 20 years, Northern Uganda has been a war zone, and as a vicious rebel force, the Lord's Resistance Army, has run rampant, destroying villages, kidnapping children, and murdering parents. The 60,000 survivors are forced to live in a refugee camp, where conditions are bleak and resources are scarce. Somehow, the children of the Patongo Primary School have qualified for the Kampala Music Festival competition for the first time, a feat unto itself; yet these children are determined to take home the championship prize.Along the way, we meet three of these innocent and tender victims: Dominic, who escapes the brutal memories of his past as a member of the L.R.A. by playing the xylophone; Rose, a shy singer who still suffers from memories of having witnessed her parents' slaughter by the rebels; and Nancy, a dancer whose aunt doesn't want her to go to the festival because she needs to take care of her three siblings. In a situation that appears to be anything but glamorous, Sean Fine's gorgeous cinematography provides a much-needed respite, flooding the screen with images of beauty, reflecting the hopeful minds of these determined children. As they make their way to Kampala to perform in front of an audience that doesn't think much of them, they must band together to prove that war and famine and slaughter cannot suffocate their spirit. WAR DANCE is a truly inspiring work of nonfiction that deserves to be seen by viewers all over the world.
| Features | Audio: Swahili Dolby Digital | | Deleted Scenes | | Interactive Menus | | Original Theatrical Trailer | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English |
| Entertainment Reviews
 | War Dance - DVD Review By: Jennifer Bogart - Blogcritics.org Reviews Published on: 10/5/2009 9:29 PM | | In 2005 Patongo Primary School in Northern Uganada won the regional competition to represent the Acholi people at the National Music Competition in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city. The children from Patongo have been born and raised in an area ripped apart by the ongoing war between the guerilla rebels, and the Ugandan government. Having lost parents, siblings, and even themselves to the rebels, these children fiercely cling to Africa’s rich musical heritage – losing themselves in dance and song they find a rich sense of purpose in their artistic endeavours....read the full review |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Velocity Home Entertainment |
| Release Date: 2/10/2009 |
| Running Time: 107 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2007 | | Catalog ID: 55225 | | UPC: 00821575552257 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1 |
| Cast & Crew | Albie Hecht - Producer | | Andrea Nix Fine - Writer | | Andrea Nix Fine - Director | | Asche & Spencer - Original Music By | | Erik Cleage - Executive Producer | | Jeff Consiglio - Editor | | Sean Fine - Director | | Sean Fine - Writer |
| Awards |
Nominee (2008) | | | Oscar, Sean Fine, Andrea Nix Fine, Best Documentary, Features | |
Winner (2007) | | | Sundance Film Festival, Sean Fine, Andrea Nix Fine, Directing Award - Documentary | |
Nominee (2007) | | | Sundance Film Festival, Sean Fine, Andrea Nix Fine, Grand Jury Prize - Documentary |
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| | Professional Reviews | Box Office
"[An] often shimmering beautiful and always heartrending documentary about refugee children and their adventures in Uganda's National Music and Dance Competition." 03/01/2007 p.68New York Times
"[A] visually ravishing documentary....[A]n honorable, sometimes inspiring exploration of the primal healing power of music and dance in an African tribal culture." 11/09/2007 p.E12 Los Angeles Times
"WAR/DANCE is as irresistible as the rhythms of African music on its soundtrack. It's a fantasy set in real life, and like all great fantasies, its moments of light are set against a backdrop of darkness and even horror." 11/09/2007 Salon.com 8 of 10
This crowd-rouser, which won a Sundance directing prize for the husband-wife team of Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine, combines a veritable perfect storm of allergy-producing documentary elements...It's not just about a talent competition; it's about a talent competition pitting war-zone-kids-with-terrible-stories against kids who are better off and grew up in more normal circumstances. It doesn't just feature music and dance numbers; it's got romping, stomping, blow-the-doors-off, celebration-of-life music and dance numbers. Furthermore, the Fines rely on a host of techniques that could be considered hackneyed or dubious or both: It depends on a tiny handful of individuals to tell a much larger story; it shows children declaiming their own experiences, in suspiciously articulate and reflective language, in extreme close-up or in murmured voice-over; it uses the stark beauty of the African grasslands, and the seemingly innocent games of children, as contrasts to the grim stories being told; it explains nothing about the political, social or cultural background of the Ugandan civil war...While that last factor still bugs me, you can't say that "War/Dance" is irresistible despite all these cliches. In fact, it's the film's reassuring, almost hypnotic visual rhythms, along with its Hollywood-like narrative structure -- which is closer to "Drumline" or "Bring It On" than to most documentaries -- that make it bearable. - Andrew O'Hehir
Variety 7 of 10
"Spellbound" with orphans, "War Dance" has a foot in two movie camps: One is the sadly unceasing number of stories about African tragedy, the other the unstoppable parade of films about kids (or virtual kids) competing in spelling bees/Scrabble/crossword puzzle/dance contests. If this seems incongruous, it is: The young black faces are too beautiful, the landscapes too pretty, and the personal stories of slaughter too scripted. While the pic may be targeting Westerners who want to feel less awful about genocide and global negligence, it's hard to imagine "War Dance" appealing to that crowd -- or any other...Well-intentioned but a victim of its own high cinematic values, "War Dance" addresses the issues of unending war in northern Uganda, where students at the Patongo Primary School in the Patongo refugee camp are to compete in a nationwide music contest. Three students are the focus of directors Sean and Andrea Nix Fine: Rose, a singer, Dominic, a xylophone player, and Nancy, a dancer, all of whom relate stories of unspeakable brutality and murder (Dominic himself was child soldier). They are framed similarly, with a slow focus in and a recriminating stare at the camera. The formal devices of the film, and the lack of spontaneity in the children's words, do little to sell the message of the movie. - John Anderson
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