The Boys of Baraka

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The Boys of Baraka ★★½ 2005

Directors Ewing and Grady inform us that 76 percent of Baltimore's black male students do not graduate from high school. So, in 2002, 20 at-risk students are given scholarships to attend the progressive Baraka boarding school—in Kenya—which is run by American volunteers. They are supposed to stay two years, but a transformation is begun that cannot be completed when terrorists attack Nairobi and the school is forced to close. The film may not have the “feel good” ending viewers are expecting, although it seems the lives of several boys are changed for the better. 84m/C US