OMO CHILD: THE RIVER AND THE BUSH – MLFF 2015

OMO CHILD: THE RIVER AND THE BUSH follows the story of Lale Labuko, a member of the Kara tribe and his journey to stop one of their oldest traditions – the slaughtering of children deemed cursed.

This heartwarming documentary infiltrates one of the oldest, and seemingly well-preserved tribes in Ethiopia (although westernization has started to show itself through clothing and education), and uncovers one of their biggest secrets known as ‘mingi.’Mingi is a curse that affects children, and it presents itself to the tribe in three ways: Woman, Girl, or Teeth. Woman Mingi is when a child is born with no elder blessing. Girl Mingi are children born to unwed mothers. Teeth Mingi are children, around the age of two, whose teeth start to come in from the top, rather than the bottom. Three different ways two show the curse, but for all they had the same outcome… they were to be killed by the women of the tribe.Thousands of children, since the beginning of the tribe, were slaughtered due to mingi. As a boy of around fifteen, Lale learned if this ancient tradition and knew that he had to do something to stop it.

The filmmakers spent around five years working on this project, following Lale as he began his mission to save the mingi children before they were put to death. What started as an impossible mission turned into the building of a sanctuary called ‘Omo Child’ where mingi children were taken in and given the chance to live their lives. Eventualy, the Kara people vowed to abolish the mingi tradition. That being said, there are still thousands of tribes that still practice this ancient belief. Children are still being killed every day, and director John Rowe did a fantastic  job of getting this message across.

This documentary is extraordinary! Director John Rowe and his son, Producer Tyler Rowe spoke with many of the elders, and handled this subject matter delicately, and with ease. It would have been easy to paint this tribe as archaic and menacing, but instead, they went into depth as to why the Kara people were scared of the curse, and their fears of death and devastation if they ended the tradition that goes back to their beginning.

OMO CHILD : THE RIVER AND THE BUSH is an important piece of documentary filmmaking. It speaks a message of hope, and change. If you have the chance, please go see this film!

OVERALL RATING : 5 out of 5 stars

For More Information:

omochild.org

omochildmovie.com