The Boys of Baraka

Mavis Jackson tells her Black male Baltimore high school audience that they have three options by the time they reach age 18: “An orange jumpsuit and bracelets, a black suit in a brown box or a black cap and gown.” Eighty percent of Baltimore’s African American boys drop out of high school, with 50 percent of them ending up in jail. From this at-risk group each year Jackson selects 20 boys to attend the Baraka School in the bush country of Kenya. The boys may as well have been sent to Mars. They’re subjected to early-morning calisthenics, long walkabouts and encounters with elephants and hedgehogs as well as native Africans. No TV, Game Boys or junk food. On the other hand, there are no shootings or police helicopters, and the only screams in the night are from hyenas. Despite acts of rebellion that range from the hilarious to the disquieting, the boys undergo a profound transformation. This exhilarating film documents two years in the lives of some inner-city kids faced with the only break they may ever get.