Search - Children Underground on DVD


Children Underground
Children Underground
Actors: Cristina Ionescu, Mihai Alexandre Tudose, Violeta 'Macarena' Rosu, Ana Turturica, Marian Turturica
Director: Edet Belzberg
Genres: Documentary
NR     2003     1hr 44min

Easily one of the most astonishing and engaging cinematic works of the past decade, CHILDREN UNDERGROUND is a profoundly intimate and heart-wrenching drama -- an Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Feature in 2001, ...  more »

     
8

Larger Image

Movie Details

Actors: Cristina Ionescu, Mihai Alexandre Tudose, Violeta 'Macarena' Rosu, Ana Turturica, Marian Turturica
Director: Edet Belzberg
Creators: Wolfgang Held, Edet Belzberg, Jonathan Oppenheim, Alan Oxman, Michel Negroponte, Mona Nicoara
Genres: Documentary
Sub-Genres: Biography, History
Studio: NEW VIDEO GROUP
Format: DVD - Color
DVD Release Date: 02/25/2003
Original Release Date: 01/01/2001
Theatrical Release Date: 01/01/2001
Release Year: 2003
Run Time: 1hr 44min
Screens: Color
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 6
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Languages: English

Similar Movies

The Boys of Baraka
Directors: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady
   R   2006   1hr 24min
Trade
Director: Marco Kreuzpaintner
   R   2008   2hr 0min

Similarly Requested DVDs

Rescue Dawn
Director: Werner Herzog
   PG-13   2007   2hr 6min
   
No Country for Old Men
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
   R   2008   2hr 2min
   
Feast
Unrated Edition
Director: John Gulager
   R   2006   1hr 35min
   
Into the Wild
Director: Sean Penn
   R   2008   2hr 28min
   
Gone Baby Gone
Director: Ben Affleck
   R   2008   1hr 54min
   
The Office - Season One
   UR   2005   2hr 15min
   
Premonition
Director: Norio Tsuruta
   R   2005   1hr 35min
   
Evil
Director: Mikael Håfström
8
   R   2006   1hr 53min
   
Predator 2
Director: Stephen Hopkins
   R   2003   1hr 48min
   
Short Circuit
   PG   2004   1hr 38min
   
 

Member Movie Reviews

Leslie L. (Highlander4812) from WYOMING, MI
Reviewed on 6/26/2009...
Very disturbing and heart wrenching. For every child who believes their parents are mean for not providing all the material possessions or loving them with tough disciple, they should sit down and watch. If this doesn't make you appreciate everything you have in life, nothing will.
2 of 4 member(s) found this review helpful.

Movie Reviews

Take this journey... harrow your soul.
Lacrimatorium | Alaska USA | 03/06/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Having just seen the DVD of Children Underground I must say strongly that this film should be seen by everyone in the postmodern first world. I saw these things for myself in Romania during December of 2000. The apathy on the streets of Bucharest was deep and dark. My friends there kept shrugging their shoulders saying; "What can you do?" A documentary on the thousands of dogs on the streets would be a riveting nightmare in itself. While I was there they held an election. The choice of presidential candidates was reduced to a hard-line old school communist and a new school fascist. The Communist won. People shrugged. The train stations and subway entrances were indeed hives for feral children. I?m deeply grateful to Edet Belzberg for having the courage to descend into this manmade hell to bring these images back. It is my hope that the Romanians themselves find some of that same courage. I was moved that even at this stage of hell several of the kids held on to at least some idea of God. That could be seen by the cynically ironic of the West as the superstition of the hopeless, but perhaps it is also evidence that these children are not hopeless. To blame these problems on the lack of abortions or contraceptives is naïve and simplistic. Listen to the voices of the parents in this film. It is the apathy, the failure of courage and the utter selfishness reinforced by too many years of soul crushing communist dictatorship. We, ourselves, have no reason to gloat. Apart from having a surfeit of material possessions would we fare any better if the props were kicked from beneath us? Perhaps? perhaps not. This film, along with Lilja 4-Ever, is a warning sign of something growing in this world. Robert L. Kaplan termed it The Coming Anarchy. It will spread. Meanwhile how will you respond to these things? With compassion or with apathy?"
CHILLING...
S. Calhoun | Chicago, IL United States | 09/02/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)

"CHILDREN UNDERGROUND follows a group of children living one subway station in Bucharest, Romania. These unwanted children exist as a result of Ceaucescu?s strict policy of outlaying abortions and birth control. Most grew up in orphanages while others lived with their families in dire poverty. They believe that their lives are better underground. This documentary films the daily exploits of these children along with the struggles they encounter to rehabilitate themselves. In order to attend school they must come clean and stop sniffing paint. In addition, they must have their identity papers, which are almost impossible for most of them. The most enduring parts of this film center on the interviews of the various family members of these children. Truly heartbreaking is the family of the small boy who doesn?t understand why their youngest child won?t return home. Watching this film will certainly make you appreciate the material things often taken for granted."
Nausiating
Sean Cannon | Tucson, AZ | 09/30/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have never seen anything like what is contained in this documentary. I am forever changed. I bought the DVD to be enlightened about "whatever it was" the film was about; I never thought it would have affected me the way it did. It can not be stated enough how imperative it is that people see this film."