nicholas-p-daniels I can see why Africa United would appeal to children, especially those who have never set foot in Africa. But for anyone over the age of 14, or with the slightest experience of the continent being depicted, I would advise them to avoid this cartoon of a film.The acting is forced, rigid, and in many places just irritating. The same can be said for the storyline. Cheap attempts to popularise the characters using witty retorts or stoicism only rendered them devoid of credibility. The characters' perfect diction and rehearsed theatrics killed off any hope of believing in them as people, or issues, or even Africans.The narrative develops by layer upon layer of predictable clichés - warlords, HIV/AIDS, rude immigration officials, and of course football - interspersed with cheesy triumphalism (i.e. kids beating the baddies) that destroyed any sense of realism about the plight of disadvantaged African youths.Picturesque countrysides, attractive smiling faces and brightly coloured markets were aplenty, so at least the camera work brought life to an otherwise moribund story. The only other redeeming features were the soundtrack and its 88 minutes runtime. 'Extraordinary story' this was not.As noted elsewhere, 'One day a filmmaker will just let us be 'people' - not victims, clowns or the underdogs always searching for more than we have'.This was more 'Sentimentalism United' than any story about football or Africa, as it could and should have been. A great opportunity missed.

vinciane-bois "Africa United" has two sides.First and foremost,the film is very beautiful, fun, brilliant, heart breaking, full of energy, passion and adventure, the soundtrack is gorgeous! The actors aren't professional but really amazing! There are a lot of heartwarming scenes of kids overcoming hardships. The children have an enormous sense of friendship, solidarity and generosity. They are brave, adventurous and united. Some people say that the story is a bit thin, for kids, but we all are kids in our heart, aren't we? It's a family film, all ages can see it and be entertained! I really enjoyed every minute of this fabulous movie. At the and, you will cry and smile because of Dudu's very poignant death, it's fantastic! The other side is a movie which shows the problems in Africa. I have already been in Africa and the movie shows exactly what people live (AIDS, child soldiers, sex workers, poverty...) It denounces the life of the children who haven't got parents in Rwanda because of the genocide too.Those two sides make the film very interesting and it's really fantastic!

valleyjohn We all remember the World Cup last year in South Africa. A colourful , noisy event that promised so much but turned out to be a damp squib. That description pretty much sums up Africa United. This film looks great and promises to be a good road movie but it washed over me. It's a film that has far to many stereotype's and is sugar coated to the extent that strangely i wanted to see some real hardship and suffering or even some humour - Vital ingredients in a road movie. - Not a Chance in Africa United. One plus point is the acting of Eriya Ndayambaje who plays Dudu. he certainly has a future in the business. as for the rest I'm not so sure. Disappointing.

Neil Welch Talented footballing teenager Fabrice and genial rotund Dudu are friends in the same small Rwandan town, although Fabrice is privileged and Dudu is a shanty dweller. Together with Dudu's younger sister Beatrice they set off for a pre-World Cup trial for Fabrice in Kigali, take the wrong bus, and end up trying to make their own way to the World Cup in South Africa, picking up escaped child terrorist Foreman George and captive teen "waitress" Celeste on the way.This rather slight film doesn't bear examining too closely, or else much of its narrative credibility falls to pieces rather easily. But it doesn't need close examination, because the things which matter about it hold true irrespective of plot holes and logic flaws.At its heart is the various relationships between these kids. The 5 untried child actors are not only all excellent, but are able to clearly show how they, and the various relationships between them, change and grow throughout the film's length. In particular, Yves Dusenge as Foreman George, shows us a good hearted youngster who is haunted by the things he has witnessed and taken part in, and who perhaps gets most benefit (in an understated way) from the growing friendships within the group.Africa is, as always, spectacular. The film successfully shows us both its beauty and something of its ugly underside and, to its credit, it neither shies away nor beats us over the head with it. Issues like AIDS and child terrorism are met matter-of-factly.This small but joyful movie was very welcome because it gave me something rather different to the usual cinema fare, and well rewarded the time I spent in the company of these young African people.