Children Underground (2001)
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Five street-connected adolescents in Bucharest navigate hardship, dependency, and hopes for a different future.
The story
Over the course of a year, the film follows five adolescents living on the streets of Bucharest as a loosely connected group. Cristina, who has been homeless since childhood, tries to protect herself and care for the younger members. Violeta, who grew up with Cristina in an orphanage, is drug-dependent, while 12-year-old Mihai is trying to live without drugs and dreams of school and work. Siblings Ana and Marian are also part of the group; the film visits and shows their parents. The children’s experiences and hopes are presented alongside the circumstances that brought them onto the streets.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
The film follows five adolescents over the course of a year. The street children live in Bucharest and form a loosely connected group. Each person is portrayed, and their individual difficulties or experiences, as well as their wishes and hopes, are depicted. The group consists of Cristina, 16, who has lived on the streets since she was 11 and adopts a stereotypically masculine appearance to protect herself from rape. She tries to take on a motherly role for the younger members of the group. Violeta, 14, is heavily drug-dependent and grew up in the same orphanage as Cristina. Mihai is 12 and tries to live without drugs; he dreams of going to school and having a job. Ana, 10, and Marian, 8, are siblings whose parents are visited and shown in the film. The children fled violence in their family home.
Genres
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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