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Afghani child refugees featured in a new documentary, Terror’s Children
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Film
Review: Terror’s Children
Sharmeen
Obaid and Mohammad Naqvi,
Pakistan
, 2002, 57 min.
They
don’t present themselves as forlorn, pathetic orphans who cannot fend for
themselves. On the contrary, the eight resilient child refugees featured in
a new documentary, Terror’s Children, grab the sympathies and support of
viewers by simply being who they are – feisty, hard-working Afghani
children who are fighting their lot in life with all their might.
Terror’s
Children, which aired in late March in the
U.S.
on the new Discovery- Times cable channel (a joint venture between the
Discovery Channel and the New York Times) follows the lives of Afghani
refugee children shuffling through the dusty camps of
Pakistan
. They are adults before their times, some eking out their own living to
help their families. Some are the sole financial support for their family.
Others
are fortunate to obtain some schooling, mainly at one of the 15,000
madrassas (Qur’anic schools) in
Pakistan
. Some madrassas have a balanced curriculum; others are more hard-line.
Though there are public and private schools in
Pakistan
, madrassas (with their low or non-existent fees) are usually the only
option to the refugees.
One
boy attends a highly conservative madrassa where the most straight-laced
form of Islamic life is taught (what Westerners would call “fundamentalist
Islam”). Another is lucky to attend Jamia Islamia, a more modern,
comfortable madrassa where he is taught other branches of education in
addition to Islamic teachings.
Their
stories, mixed with those of their working counterparts, make for a
compelling look at how the
U.S.
bombing campaign in
Afghanistan
following September 11 affected the children. According to the documentary,
approximately 2 million refugees live in
Pakistan
without the most basic of amenities.
The
documentary, the first for Naqvi and Obaid, is a mixture of sophisticated
journalism and amateur filmmaking. To find willing participants, to get
admittance into the madrassas, to just find young girls to interview all
speak of dedicated work and ingenuity on the part of Naqvi and Obaid.
Yet
the choppy style and lack of a running train of thought sometimes proves
frustrating for the viewers. Each child’s story is individually presented,
and the camera abruptly cuts off between stories with no smooth transitions.
Perhaps this is meant to represent the rockiness of the children’s lives,
but it can be difficult. And what ties these children together? Their love
for their homeland? Their determination to be a presence in their refugee
camps? It’s a question demanding further exploration.
But
the sheer determination of the filmmakers to tell the children’s tales
thrusts the film forward on merit and compelling storytelling. Obaid and
Naqvi spent ten10 short weeks following the children in the summer of 2002.
We meet Abdur Raheem, the middle of five brothers who is the sole financial
support for his family. He works in a carpet-weaving factory,
non-complaining of the heavy responsibilities he carries.
His
younger brothers attend school. One older brother was injured in a
motorcycle accident, and the eldest is a rather useless flyboy smoking opium
and coming up with excuses not to work. It’s a grim life for Abdur Raheem,
but he doesn’t shirk or complain (much). He accepts his duties while
maintaining a desperate smidgen of boyishness amid all his adult
responsibilities.
Then
there are the girls, Laila, 9, and Anissa, 11. Their matter-of-fact
conversations and approach to life tell of a womanly existence at the
expense of their girlhood. Anissa is responsible for her two-year-old
brother. Laila has less responsibility, but both have heavy household chores
and spin wool for money on the side.
They,
as the other children, simply accept their duties and make the best of it.
The biggest loss these young refugees face is their own childhood. They have
adult responsibilities, adult ideas, and adult conversations. Yet there is
still an innocence they possess. They snatch small pockets of time to play
games and joke with each other. Just when you think they can’t act more
grownup, a look, a word, an action reveals their youth.
Naqvi
said he wanted to show the differentiation between Afghani and Pakistani
Muslims to a Western audience. After 9/11, “Muslims were being lumped into
this one ‘fundamental’ group,” he said. But each child’s individual
story proves that beliefs and hopes vary from child to child, Naqvi added.
Naqvi
said each child they filmed asked the same thing: “Will my life be better
if I appear in this film?” Thus far some have returned to
Afghanistan
; others are still in
Pakistan
’s refugee camps. But following up on their stories may prove difficult
for these young filmmakers. These children appear and disappear at will –
victims of unfortunate circumstances.
Terror’s
Children is airing on the Discovery-Times channel in the
U.S.
Naqvi and Obaid are taking the film to various college campuses and hope to
distribute it in
Europe
and at various film festivals this summer.
