Every now and then something as simple as a film can really open the eyes of a lot of people and raise awareness of some of the horrible things going on in today’s world. Usually, it’s always the same old story. Tonight, however, a different story will be told.
At 7 p.m., in the Union ballroom, h2O will be showing “Invisible Children,” which is a documentary film that captures some of the human atrocities that are currently taking place in Uganda.
The documentary was made by three students who graduated with a degree in film from the University of Southern California. The students decided to take a trip to Africa to find a story that has not been told, according to Matthew McClure, h2O staff member.
“They first went up to Kenya but didn’t find anything there and in a wild and crazy turn of events, they met a woman who informed them of some human atrocities that were occurring towards children in Northern Uganda,” McClure said. “So these three students drove to Uganda and filmed a story that has not yet been told.”
The story is haunting and disturbing.
In northern parts of Uganda, children, ages seven to seventeen, are being kidnapped at night by members of the Lords Resistance Army and are being trained to recruit more members.
“Basically, the children are going to bed at night with no security and late at night the LRA come to kidnap them,” McClure said. “The LRA like to recruit children, because they are easier to brainwash.”
The film documents how the children are abducted and then trained to the LRA. The LRA eventually sends these children back to the communities and are forced to recruit more children, and if people do not cooperate, they are either killed or forced to watch others get tortured to death.
The three students who made the film have interviewed some of the kids who escaped the army and they talk about the tragedies in the documentary.
Since the students made the film, they are trying to start a movement. They have trained a bunch of other members to represent the movement and send them around the country to show the film and talk about what is going on. They have even shown the film to some very important groups of people, according to McClure.
“They are starting a real powerful movement,” he said. “The film has been shown to committees of the United States congress and also to committees of the United Nations. Finally some actions are being done against these atrocities.”
Stephanie Denore, h2O staff member, originally brought this documentary to the attention of other members of h2O. When she saw it, she realized it would benefit Bowling Green to show this film.
“I got a hold of the documentary and I figured this would be a good way to raise awareness about what is going on,” she said. “This documentary really captures the violent atmosphere and the atmosphere in general for these children. There is footage of children carrying guns and children sleeping outside. They can’t even go to school because they are hiding from the LRA.”
McClure, as well as Denore, hopes that by showing this film, the audience will feel compelled to try and help out or at least gain attention of what is happening in other countries.
“College is a place where students learn a lot and students become globally conscious and aware of what is going on,” McClure said. “We want to raise awareness for people and we want students to get involved. We encourage students to get the word out and join this movement.”
McClure encourages all students to attend the event but would like to point out that if students do not attend, at least check out the Web site (www.invisiblechildren.com) for information.
“I hope that a ton of people come because this really is one of the greatest human atrocities that I have heard during my lifetime,” he said. “It would be awesome if the Bowling Green community rallied behind this movement and responded.”
