Angels In Exile (Billy Raftree, 2013):South Africa

Reviewed by Casey Cummings at the metro 4 theater, Santa Barbara.

A sad but inspirational documentary at the least. In the first 15 minutes i learned new things i never knew before about Africa and the problems these kids face being homeless. A really good life lesson of how fortunate kids in the US are and what struggles two teens go through in there everyday life. All actors in the movie are actual people as themselves and the director is Billy Raftree

The glue stood out to me because i had no idea what it even was until i watched this documentary. its sad to see what it does to kids and how it affects other people as well. Glue is a drug that is easily distributed in Africa that essentially makes life better for kids that have nothing. In this movie it takes you behind a young boy, Ariel, and a young girl, Zuleka. It explains the struggle both of these kids have had to go through from homelessness, drugs, and family conflicts like child abuse and even rape.

A scene that caught my attention was the fact that the directors wife, Zulekas cousin, explains where she grew up and the footage speaks for itself. She explains what people had to do in her village to get food. The scene shows villagers traveling to a near by dump and eating out of the trash bags to survive. This scene struck me in a very sad way because almost all people in the US have never had to do that just to survive.

Overall this is a really graphic film that shows what kids have to go through in South Africa to survive being homeless.  A wonderful Documentary