kidswithaglobalvision

DVD Documentaries

Half the Sky—Long, but really great at showing issues. It focuses on bringing in celebrities (knowing they have a strong voice) to these horrible issues facing women. Interesting to see how it affects them all differently, but it is the stories of the suffering (and often so strong) women that are amazing and horrifying and empowering (all of it).

Living on One Dollar – Four young men try to live on a dollar a day to better understand the global poor

Isaiah 58—New DVD available through www.live58.org showing poverty and justice issues globally. Only mild things above young eye’s understanding. I was comfortable allowing my young children to see it and explaining some of the hard stuff in explainable, less-scary ways.

Walk to Beautiful—Struggle of many women in Ethiopia.

Born into Brothels—Stories of children born to prostitutes in India.

Beyond the Gates of Splendor—Documentary after “End of the Spear” movie of Jim Elliot and his fellow missionaries that lost their lives in order to give the gospel as well as the people who continued to minister to these tribal people of Ecuador. Powerful.

Mary and Martha—Two women meet up who have lost their sons to Maleria while in Africa.  It sparks a transformational journey for them and those they want to help.

China’s Lost Girls—Stories of orphan girls in China.

We Are Together—Story of South Africa’s Agape Choir, beautiful film, pretty accessible to youth.

Beyond Belief—About two women who gave birth to two children after losing spouses to 9/11. They turned their grief into a way to actually minister to Afghanistan widows. It isn’t necessarily a Christian documentary, but convicting and inspiring nonetheless.

Angels in the Dust—An orphanage started in South Africa for 500+ kids in response to AIDS crisis—gives lots of individual stories of kids—what they have been through.

Girl Rising—Inspiring and educational documentary on the challenges facing girls internationally.

Stuck—Documentary about International Adoption

Stolen Childhoods—Many different types of child slavery portrayed.

War Dance—Kids who suffered at the hands of the LRA in Uganda use dance as a source of healing and expression.

Emmanuel’s Gift—Inspiring true story of disabled orphan in Ghana, not giving up and changing lives around him.

Small Voices—Documenting struggles of garbage dump children in Cambodia.

Lost Boys of Sudan and God Grew Tired of Us—Stories of boys who were in refugee camps most their lives and then brought to America.

Call and Response—Slavery today.

Flesh and Blood—Women who take in medically complex foster kids.

Invisible Children—Boy soldiers.

DVD Movies

Trade of Innocents—The most approachable (for the widest audience) movie on sex trafficking I’ve ever seen. Still hard to watch, but redemptive and shows both international and domestic issues.

The Good LIe – Reece WItherspoon in a movie about the Lost Boys of Sudan

Blood Diamonds—Revealing the very real, disgusting cost of most commercialized diamonds: child soldiers, exploitation, and war.

Holly—Story of one girl in Cambodia stuck in sex trafficking.

Children of Heaven—Appropriate for younger viewers, though if I recall it has subtitles. Two poor children trying to get a new pair of shoes in the Middle East. Really sweet film.

The Trade—Sex trafficking: though hard to see, doesn’t show too much and is somewhat redemptive.

Kite Runner—Based off a best-seller. Really important to see life in the Middle East, but some difficult scenes.

End of the Spear—Based on the famous story of Jim Elliott and his fellow missionaries, passion, and death while serving a tribe in Ecuador.

Pursuit of Happyness—Beautiful movie of man who is trying to make a better life for himself and his son. They are briefly homeless while he is trying to get a job as a stockbroker. True story.

Searching for Antwone Fisher—Man dealing with his past abuse and loss as a foster child. There is a level of beautiful redemption in this movie.

Tears of the Sun—Rescue operation of some missionaries and the effect of seeing the struggles of people in a war-torn country. Really an excellent film of people moving from seeing Africans as others to people they care about.

Crash—Hard to watch, but shows that there are prejudices everywhere. Also shows a lot of different poverty, race, and trafficking issues in America.

Temple Grandin—About a woman with autism. Very insightful and beautiful.

Radio—Caring and standing up for a mentally disabled boy who wants to help on a football team. Some powerful scenes.

The Killing Fields—About the genocide in Cambodia. Horrifically hard to watch, but true and so important to know the background of Cambodia.

Slumdog Millionaire—A boy’s winning streak on a TV show is tracked through his hard life’s events in India.

Constant Gardener—A mystery/action movie that uncovers a dirty secret of a company in Kenya.

Faith Like Potatoes—True story of a South African farmer. Beautiful.

Maria Full of Grace—Woman caught in Colombia drug war. Not easy viewing.

Reign Over Me—Aftermath of a man’s life after losing his kids and wife to the 9/11 tragedy.

Amistad—Shows some of the horrors of the American slave trade during a mutiny on a slave ship in 1800s. Graphic.

Amazing Grace—Amazing story of William Wilberforce, among other abolitionists, working to end the slave trade in 1800s.

The Visitor—One man is changed by his interactions with some illegal immigrants.

Beyond the Gates—Catholic school is used as a place of refuge for Rwandan Tutsis during the genocide. Some faith questions. It shows the genocide and death while showing minimal actual killings. Well done movie, but tragic.

Under the Same Moon—Little boy tries to sneak to America to get to his mother, only barely shows all the horrors that could have happened. Beautiful movie.

Bella—Amazing movie of redemption. Gentle approach against abortion.

Beyond Borders—Some pretty incredible landscape, eye-opening scenes of poverty and war in this film.

Journey to Jamaa—Short film on poverty and sponsorship.  Free online through World Vision.

Not Without My Daughter—Sally Fields stars in a movie that reveals darker part of some Muslim womens’ lives

Soul Surfer—Great faith, true story, but key is how her perspective changed when she visited the poor after the tsunami. Good for young eyes.

The Blind Side—A rich white family is changed when they meet a kind boy who was lost in the cracks of society. True story of football player.

Ultimate Gift—Rich, selfish man gets a chance at a new life through a series of tests to get an inheritance.

Tsunami: The Aftermath—Helps a person understand what the tsunami in Thailand of 2004 was like.

Grace Card—A cop, whose child was killed by a black drug dealer, is teamed with a black partner and deals with his racism and bad family life. Faith and redemption.