A story about this — 2 years ago
While Invisible Children has a great message, a part of me really questions the way it was packaged. We’re presented with a film as made by three whitebread American teenage boys who decide to go to the Sudan to make a film. They buy their equipment on eBay and have allegedly never used any of the equipment before.
So I find it really suspicious that a lot of the shots in the film are clearly recorded by someone with experience. Carol Mansour has an IMDB credit as “cinematographer” yet there’s no info on her at Invisible Children’s website.
None of this would phase me except for the fact that at the end of the credits, they ask the audience for money. I don’t think throwing money at this problem is going to do a damn bit of good, and I can’t help but question the real motive behind this film.
They also sell it as a documentary for the “MTV generation,” which makes me want to grind my teeth. Oh, hey, let’s put some rock music and make all the shots really short and choppy to make activism cool again.
Most of the press they display on their website are things like celebrities wearing their T-shirts in People, ads with a Paul Mitchell hair product tie-in in Seventeen, an article about Fall Out Boy visiting Uganda from Rolling Stone... Aside from an article on MSNBC, the whole thing feels like a political fashion statement.
Perhaps I’m too much of a cynic.
If nothing else, the film will educate you about the child soldiers in Uganda which is something everyone should know about. Hopefully if it inspires you to take action, it will be with something other than your wallet.
By the way, for a really great article on this topic, check out NPR’s interview with Ishmael Beah, who actually fought for the rebels for three years after being kidnapped at 13. He was eventually rescued by UNICEF and rehabilitated. He released A Long Way Gone, his memoirs, in early 2007.
