Children Underground - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Children Underground is a 2. Edet Belzberg. In an effort to increase the Romanian work force, former communist leader Nicolae Ceau. Thousands of unwanted children were placed in state orphanages where they faced terrible conditions. With the fall of Communism, many children moved onto the streets. Some were from the orphanages. Others were runaways from impoverished families. Today there are 2. Children Underground follows the story of five street children, aged eight to sixteen who live in a subway station in Bucharest, Romania. The street kids are encountered daily by commuting adults, who pass them by in the station as they starve, swindle, and steal, all while searching desperately for a fresh can of paint to get high with. Belzberg and her cameraman, Wolfgang Held, maintain their distance as the kids panhandle, fight and sleep on cardboard boxes, either on the train platforms or the public parks above ground, watching dispassionately as the youngsters inhale Aurolac, a noxious silver paint with intoxicating fumes, from plastic bags. In a slightly uplifting coda, Belzberg and crew return a year later to find that a police sweep of the Victoriei has dispersed the children; some landed in state- funded homes, while others simply moved on to one of the many abandoned construction sites that dot the city, ironic symbols of a shining future that never arrived. Belzberg steers away from any discussion of the rampant sexual exploitation of these young children, or the fact that one of the biggest dangers they face are STDs, including AIDS, but the urban hell she presents is shattering enough. Homelessness is all too familiar to many inhabitants of the world's wealthiest cities, but rarely has the situation seemed so hopeless, or its victims so desperate. One of the children director Belzberg follows is Cristina Ionescu. At first this child may seem to be a young man, but you later find out that girls have to become hard and boyish in order to survive. This is also very apparent with another child named, Violeta 'Macarena' Rosu, who is also a girl. The nickname 'Macarena' derives from the song . Three other children, Mihai Tudose, and brother and sister Ana and Marian, are also profiled. The film explores the lives of these children, who are shown fighting, abusing themselves, and becoming addicted to Aurolac. The filmmakers follow Mihai to his family's home in the town of Constan. A similar scene films Ana and Marian as they visit their home, which is also outside Bucharest. Children featured in film. She left the orphanage at age 1. Cristina took on a boyish appearance in order to appear tough, as street girls often face hardships. Cristina is the leader of the subway kids. Mihai Alexandru Tudose: Aged 1. Both parents drank and his father was abusive. He misses his sister and mother and feels guilt for leaving them. He wishes to have a skill in life, to own a home and go to school. Children Underground Implications Local: - Increased crime in the streets-Uneducated generation of children - The spread of diseases due to little to no healthcare, and poor living conditions Sources http://www.unicef.org. CHILDREN OF THE UNDERGROUND. LATEST TRACKS POPULAR TRACKS. SHOW: Show Only Today Yesterday This Week Last Week Last 7 Days Last 30 Days Since Last Login Since Last Purchase Range - Genre. Easily one of the most astonishing and engaging cinematic works of the past decade, CHILDREN UNDERGROUND is a profoundly intimate and heart-wrenching drama — an Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Feature in 2001, and. He refuses to beg like the other children and instead helps shopkeepers stock shelves for payment. He cuts himself after the group travels to a park (Ana has a tantrum and takes it out on him) and shows signs of emotional suffering. Violeta 'Macarena' Rosu: Aged 1. Cristina. Cristina protects Macarena who is quiet and submissive. She is addicted to Aurolac Paint more so than the other children. She prefers sniffing paint over food. The nickname 'Macarena' derives from the song . She refuses to discuss her home life and says her family loves her and she loves them but it's better this way. After running away, she later returns home, taking her younger brother Marian to stay with her on the streets. Her stepfather attempts to take them home twice but also admits to have . Ana is very troubled. Marian Turturica: Aged 8, is Ana's younger brother. He doesn't like life on the streets and sticks close by his sister's side. Where are they now? Cristina, now 1. 9, is addicted to heroin and is three months pregnant. She shows little hope in being able to give up the drug. Zulya and the Children of the Underground Zulya and The Children of the Underground perform exquisite original music inspired by Zulya’s Tatar and Russian roots. The music defies being labelled, but has been described as. Buy Children Underground (English Subtitled): Read 29 Movies & TV Reviews - Amazon.com. Her baby is given to a non- profit adoptive organization and she continues living off of the streets using only the income from her girlfriend's prostitution. Mihai, now a young man, has been taken in by a man in Belgium who spent six months looking for him in Bucharest . For some time, he enjoyed education in general schooling and French language before returning to Bucharest to live with a social worker. Marian, now 1. 2, was taken to a children's shelter after a police sweep of the Piata Victoriei and deemed able for rehabilitation, and continues to live there. Ana, now 1. 4, has been living with her parents after the police threatened to prosecute them for Child Abandonment. Any verifiable updates (sources added) would be a welcome contribution to the awareness of this social issue. No child should be forgotten. Update: If you search Mihai, Ana (Anamaria) and Marian's names on Facebook there are pictures of them and they are all doing well it seems. They are not living on the streets anymore and are all friends on Facebook. There is also a blog about Cristina online with updates on her life. She still lives on the streets unfortunately and have had 3 kids whom she gave away to people who could afford to bring them up in a home. The film has won the Special Jury Prize at the 2. Sundance Film Festival. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best documentary feature. Children Underground . Its director Edet Belzberg succeeded to present a real picture of the horror in which thousands of Romanian kids are forced to live at. It is not easy to describe what was happening inside of me while watching Children Underground – seeing this kids living in the subway station,sniffing paint to get high and forget for a moment of their misery is a heart breaking experience. Every time I see a movie like this a documentary so harsh ( similar to the works of Wiktor Grodecki) – I wonder what is like to film a movie like this . You can`t just stay and let the camera run while the kids get beaten and abused – and yet if you interfere the reality would change as soon or later you will finish making your movie and leave. I found an answer to my question in the words of Belzberg . That what you see in the film doesn’t even compare to what the children endure on a daily basis. A child could be beaten as many as four or five times a day by a passerby, a shopkeeper, another street kid, and so I really felt that it was my responsibility to show the reality of the situation and to really focus on long term goals rather than short term solutions. Had I intervened once, twice, ten times, even a hundred times every day while I was there, it wouldn’t have changed the situation at all, and it wouldn’t have been an accurate representation of the children’s lives. People who had seen rough cuts often said to me, you can’t show this, you can’t do this. People will not be able to handle it. The kid I felt really bad for while watching the movie was the young Mihai – who seemed to be intelligent and polite boy. In the scene in which he started cutting himself I felt to desperate – and wonder what is like to film such a scene without stopping him – I could have never done that. There are discussions in the movie IMDB page about this scene too. Children Underground is a documentary that I recommend to you – why – because it is real – whatever that means. I have seen children like that on the streets – they are there , and we can`t just close our eyes pretending that they are not existing. The movie at IMDB (link).
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