Africa United (2010)

African coming-of-age road-movie, but that's not what it's about.

The story of five kids' 3,000 mile voyage from Rwanda to the 2010 football world cup in South Africa is much more about what they pass on either side of that road.

Underage prostitution, bribery, child soldiers, murder, financial rip-offs, illegal refugees… when Dudu is revealed to be HIV positive, in this film it comes as no surprise.

The above issues are so dense that their inclusion here is apparently the film's true agenda. That doesn't subtract though, for they never feel trite or forced. Dudu, Fabrice, Beatrice, George and Celeste encounter these horrors, process them as problems to be quickly solved, and then simply move onto the next one.

Even Dudu, once diagnosed, chooses to leave the hospital and carry on with his dream anyway.

It was a no-brainer for getting shown at church tonight.

More than anything else, Africa United is interesting. I can't really call it fun or exciting, but it treads the line between movie-world and real-world very well.

There's never any doubt where and how the story will end, but the simple final close-ups on Dudu's and Fabrice's enraptured smiles are a joy to behold.