i just saw the film a few days ago and i haven't been able to stop thinking about it. it is SO painful. and the thought that they are not nearly the only ones, and that the other kids they were hanging out with had just as harsh stories if not even harsher, and that they too were just as tortured and emotionally scarred, and that there are literally MILLIONS of kids in the world who are suffering such pain today. just so totally heartbreaking. all the beatings, and mihai cutting himself...
and like when cristina was beating on that kid, and then she called another kid over and hit him too, and he started crying and cristina made him suck it up right away. made me think of how many times this kid's been on the verge of tears and has sucked them up into his soul, he just looked like he's done it before, and it's definitely gonna become too much from time to time and he'll just lash out. and that's how sweet innocent kids become violent and hateful.
and that's the story with every single one of these kids - i saw another documentary called children of leningradsky about street kids in russia, and sadly it's the same exact way there, except it seemed that there were less job opportunities for the kids and the ONLY way to survive was to beg, steal, or prostitute yourself - boys and girls. and one thing that that video showed that this one didn't is it had a few minutes showing the street kids beating up on some older street people - kicking them, mercilessly taking their clothes and scarring them - it showed one man's legs dripping with blood from the street kids' attack. and it's so sad, because you feel like getting upset at the kids but you just CAN'T. it's not their fault - it's really really not. it's the fault of the horrible childhoods they've had; the total lack of upbringing and all the psychological scars they have, that you can't even blame them for being violent - it's the only way other than sniffing glue and paint or slashing their arms that they can let out some of the pain that's bottled up inside - and so much of that comes from being forced to suck up what could be a painful yet very necessary cry.
the amount of pain in this film is unimaginable and frankly, i'm sure that not helping the kids out in every SINGLE little detail of their lives, even details that WE might see as small, was extremely painful for the filmmakers, considering that they were THERE - these tortured children suffering infront of their own eyes. it's not JUST the big things they should have helped them with, it's EVERYTHING. but they made a decision which i understand 100% especially since if they made it it means they NEEDED to, or else i assure you they would have helped right away. their decision was not to interfere at all, or else we would have NO idea the actual reality of their lives. and this is only a fraction of their pain. the rest is left up to us to imagine.
about mihai and the red on his arm - my friend is russian and her grandmother hurt her leg pretty bad in a fall, and one day i was at her house and i saw this green stuff on her leg. i asked her about it and she told me it was some russian medicine. i jokingly asked her if it came in different colors too, and she said she didn't think so, but i'm thinking that the stuff on mihai's and the other kids arms has something to do with that.
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