Life does not lose its value

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Life does not lose its value (original title, Italian language, La vita non perde valore) is a 2012 documentary film directed by Wilma Massucco; subject: rehabilitation of former child soldiers, and what happened to some of them, ten years after the civil war that ravaged Sierra Leone (1991 – 2002).

In Sierra Leone, Wilma Massucco met some former child soldiers of Father Giuseppe Berton (Sisqo, Tejan, Betty, Abu), a girl who survived the rebels’ attack (Daniella) and another girl who remained prisoner in the jungle for many years (Finda) and representatives of the Family Homes Movement (Margaret, Fofanah, Ernest), and she has discussed with them about what happened "before" and "after" the meeting with Father Berton.

School destroyed by Sierra Leone Civil War

The purpose of the Documentary is not only to expose the tragedy of child soldiers, a phenomenon still diffused in many Countries, and to give evidence – through Father Berton and FHM - of an exemplary educational model.

Going thoroughly into the suffering of child soldiers, this film takes the viewer to identify with his own sense of loneliness, his fears and disvalue about his life, and also helps to have an intuition of how to redeem this suffering.

Bluindaco Productions © 2012, ISAN CODE 0000-0003-128D-0000-Z-0000-0000-6

Synopsis

Life does not lose its value focuses on the reintegration, lead by Father Giuseppe Berton, of former | child soldiers, after they lived for years in the forest, together with the rebels of the RUF, | Revolutionary United Front of | Sierra Leone]. Main focus of the Documentary: is it possible to overcome suffering, even when it's huge and deep like child soldiers' one? If so, in which way?

The film includes interviews by Wilma Massucco with several former child soldiers, victims of child soldiers, persons who survived the rebels' attacks as well as representatives of the | Family Homes Movement, the movement founded by Father Giuseppe Berton in Sierra Leone, in 1985. The various interviews alternate in the discussion with Father Giuseppe Berton, who also interacts with Roberto Ravera (Director ASL 1 Imperiese, Italy), a psychologist who worked with FHM through Research projects aimed to analyze the effect of trauma in child soldiers.

Main message of the Documentary: “Whoever you are, whichever evil action you might have done or that might have led you to inflict sorrow .... your life hasn’t lost its value” (Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni, Oral Teachings, V – VII sec Before Christ)

This Documentary is worthy to be analyzed in comparison with | Kony 2012, a short film about child soldiers in Uganda, created by Invisible Children, Inc., and released on March 5, 2012 - that spread virally on the web. Both the Documentaries, Life does not lose its value and Kony 2012, deal with child soldiers issue , but what are the aims of the one and what the aims of the other?

Some former child soldiers interviewed in Life does not lose its value, guys of twenty years old, are the same interviewed by Sorious Samura in Cry Freetown , when they were still baby soldiers. Cry Freetown is a Documentary produced in 2000, with the assistance of CNN Productions and Insight News Television, winner of many international awards.

Further reading

• Nigrizia.it – | FORMER CHILD SOLDIERS - In which way do the former child soldiers live their reintegration into family and social life? How did they overcome – if they managed – the effects derived from such brutal psychological and physical traumas?

• Italian Foreign Affair Ministry , Cooperation for Development –| FILM ABOUT FORMER CHILD SOLDIERS A Documentary film about the use of children in war conflicts, a phenomenon still diffused in many Countries, and about the activity of social reintegration promoted by a Missionary. The Italian Cooperation itself is leading, in Africa, a dedicated project in order to give support to children in particular needs.

• Missionline - Pime (Institute of Papal Foreign Missions) – | A HOPE AFTER THE TRAGEDY - Father Giuseppe Berton, an Italian Missionary of the Xaverian Order, helps the African former child soldiers to come back to a common life. The stories of his guys now are a Film.

• MissioItalia – | LIFE DOES NOT LOSE ITS VALUE – A Documentary about Father Giuseppe Berton and the former child soldiers of Sierra Leone - 20% of the income will be donated to Family Homes Movement, Italy www.fhmitalia.it

REFERENCES for FATHER GIUSEPPE BERTON

• Father Giuseppe Berton is an Italian Missionary of the | Xaverian Order, who has been living in Sierra Leone for over forty years. Founder of the | Family Homes Movement, Sierra Leone, 1985 and co-founder, with Roberto Ravera, of the | Family Homes Movement, Italy, 2012
• He's one of the persons interviewed in the 2000 Documentary Film | Cry Freetown, by | Sorious Samura
• He's been many times subject of Italian National TV Channel. See for example: | RAI TV Channel 3, Agenda del Mondo, puntata del 12 Nov 2011 and Raffaella Carrà and Antonello Venditti RAI 1, Amore, 2006
• Book | Quattro giorni, quarant'anni - it's focused on Father Berton's activities in Sierra Leone, during and after the Civil War (Davide Rondoni, 2006, Itaca Libri)
• Documentary Film Dvd "Infanzia rubata, bambini soldato", directed by Fiorenzo Raffaini, Videomission, 2000
• Book Disegni di guerra. La guerra civile in Sierra Leone raccontata dagli ex bambini soldato di Padre Berton (Father Giuseppe Berton, 2000, EMI Ed.)

REFERENCES for FAMILY HOMES MOVEMENT

• The | Family Homes Movement, Sierra Leone, is a movement founded in Sierra Leone by Father Giuseppe Berton in 1985:its main aim is that of giving parental care and education to children in particular need; during the civil war Father Berton and FHM saved and rehabilitated into social life more than 3000 child soldiers.
• The | Family Homes Movement, Italy is the Italian sister of FHM Sierra Leone. Based in Italy, it has been founded (2012) by the cooperation between Father Giuseppe Berton and Roberto Ravera (Director ASL 1 Imperiese, Italy). They are working together, following the recent scientific theories in terms of psychology and psychopathology, for projects of rehabilitation and social, professional, scholastic inclusion of abandoned children.

External links

• Life does not lose its value - Official Site of the Documentary
• The Documentary Life does not lose its value has already been analyzed as Case history at the Microfestival letterario of Alessandria (Italy)
• | Voci dal branco, La vita non perde valore The Magazine of the Secondary School of Modena (Italy) publishes the reviews about Life does not lose its value written by some students of | Liceo Wiligelmo