Hot Docs 2008

Acclaimed doc-maker Kim Longinotto (Sisters in Law, The Day I Will Never Forget) brings us another incredible film about struggling children living in extraordinary circumstances. Mulberry Bush in Oxford, U.K., is a unique boarding school that caters to children who have been expelled from regular schools for extreme behaviour. The three-year programme gives them the chance to turn their lives around and re-enter the regular school system. Longinotto spends a year at the school following the progress of four charming but troubled boys. All have severe problems with anger and violence; they punch, kick, spit and curse at the remarkably patient teachers who are trained never to raise their voices and who encourage the students to express their emotions. The film compassionately captures the battle these children go through to give voice to the hurt they carry inside. It is a sensitive and heart-wrenching study of the results of family dysfunction and also stands witness to the effects-bad and good-adults have on growing children.
-Shannon Abel