Every year, 20 black at risk boys from an inner-city Baltimore school are ‘selected’ to attend the Baraka School in Kenya, Africa.  These are THE BARAKA BOYS of the film’s title.  Picked because their parents are drug addicts, criminals, gangsters and/or because they themselves are troublesome and rebellious, the project offers these kids a second chance to grow up the way they were supposed to – in an environment where boys will be boys.  At Baraka, the new surroundings offer no television, mobile phones, motor vehicles or electricity after dark.  If an unsatisfied student attempts to run away, he would have to face the fury of the wild animals of the night.

All this makes interesting fodder for an entertaining documentary on the wonderful aspects of growing up.  And these students who return back to Baltimore have an almost 100% success at high school graduation compared to the 72% in the age group that do not.  Directors Ewing and Grady milk their material for all its worth, bringing on as much shameless sentiment as they can.  Christmas at the homes of the families, crying grandmothers, fathers during visiting time in prison promising their kid to be good et al. sometimes seems too much to take at one time. 

BOYS OF BARAKA traces two years in the documentation of one particular class. But the directors pull a fast one after half the film with a twist in the plot, a result of unforeseen circumstances in real life.  (I won’t spoil the surprise here.) The directors focus on three or four families instead of more, which is actually a good thing, to keep the film on track and not overlong.  But one wishes the directors would have the film deliver a message or at least have a definite aim.  BOYS OF BARAKA seems to contain unrelated segments like the base camp school method of settling a fight or the incident where a boy steals the gym keys from a teacher.  THE BOYS OF BARAKA is not spectacular nor is it especially informative but still the charm of the boys make up what the documentary lacks in terms of content.