Saturday, November 28, 2009

Kassim the Dream (Saturday, November 28, 2009) (174)

This is a small documentary about Ugandan boxer Kassim Ouma who fled to the U.S. after being trained as a child soldier in the civil war in his homeland. The first half of the film shows his training and some of his fights as a young professional boxer in America (still fighting today). He has sheer talent and drive and lots of potential to become a great champ, though his attention is somewhat broken up by the riches that come with his success.

The second half of the film shows him going back home to visit and re-connect with old friends and loved ones. After working with the Ugandan embassy in Washington to get his visa (which was complicated by the fact that the rebel leader in whose army he fought is now the president of Uganda and Ouma has spoken out against his regime), he makes the trip there as a returning hero. Once there he finalizes some loose ends and visits his home village he goes back to the training camp where he learned to kill.

Overall this is a nice movie with a good soul. Ouma is a charming man clearly haunted by his past, but doing well to make a better life for himself and his family. The main problem with it, though, is that director Kief Davidson loses track of the narrative and we end up with two very different movies - one about boxing and one about African child soldiers - with no real historical or stylistic connection between them. He could have cut back and forth between the two narratives and used his achievements in the ring as a foil for the misery he felt as a boy. Instead, we get two unrelated movies that are each less powerful and rather boring.

As I watched the second half of the movie I was reminded of another documentary from earlier this year - My Neighbor, My Killer, about the community truth and reconciliation trials following the Rwandan genocide. In that film, the powerful human message is amazing, but the filmmaker doesn't cut or structure the film in a way that makes for an interesting movie. With that one, I felt that I wanted to like the story (I wanted to love it, really), but I couldn't because it didn't tell an efficient story. Similarly with this one, the story is amazing and Ouma himself is lovable, but I can't help but feel unfulfilled with the result onscreen.

As a sociological case study this is a powerful story, but as a cinematic experience it leaft me somewhat cold. I love the shots of the boxer in an African village street with hundreds of kids clamouring to see him and touch him (reminiscent, of course, of the great When We Were Kings - and now Soul Power, from this summer), but such a set-up is somewhat superficial and trite at this point. I wanted more of a psychological journey from where he started to where he is now. Sadly, I didn't get that at all.

Stars: 1.5 of 4

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