War Dance

This Sundance doc fav was too pretty and too predetermined, raising issues of authenticity, but did stir some of the emotions it was working too hard to get across. Hard not to, with the horrific stories of three child victims of the Ugandan civil war, orphaned in a refugee camp but part of a school competing in a nationwide musical competition. However stagy the presentation, the pain of their lives is real enough, as is the joy of their release into song and dance. And if uncontextualized suffering is uneasily linked to the Spellbound/Mad Hot Ballroom formula of youthful competition, there is still beauty and spirit on display in this product of the team of Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine. (2007, dvd, n.) *6* (MC-68.)