Africa United

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This one threw me. Settling in to watch a road movie about a group of kids making their way from Rwanda to South Africa in time for last summer's World Cup, the opening scene completely caught me off guard. A small kid, about thirteen, talks to the camera about AIDS: he unwraps a condom, blows it up and turns it into a football, all the while telling us that Rooney, Drogba and Kaka wear condoms. It's unexpected and is a warning for what's to come - just when you got Africa United sussed, it will surprise you.

That kid turns out to be Dudu (Ndayambaje), a poverty-stricken football fan who boasts that he's the talented Fabrice's (Nsengiyumva) manager. Spotted by a member of the World Cup committee, Fabrice is asked to join the World Cup's opening ceremony representing his country. Despite being three thousand miles away, Dudu, Fabrice, and Dudu's little sister Beatrice (Sanyu Joanita Kintu) make for South Africa with only a World Cup wall chart to guide the way. They encounter problems almost immediately when Foreman George (Dusange), a former child soldier joins the 'team' and brings with him unwanted attention.

The plot is just an excuse to raise awareness for Africa: comments on AIDS, crime, poverty, war, child sexual slavery and a shortage of medicine are rife throughout; Africa United gets through a lot in its running time. It's episodic story - road movies are episodic by nature - is a little rough, with various sequences crashing into each other but it's bursting with restless vigour. There's always something happening and the gang are never far away from another little adventure. It's a Famous Five story for this generation but Enid Blyton never raised the issues that Africa United dares to raise and she never, ever, considered an ending this dark and this unexpected.

Light and fluffy one moment (it's knockabout fun), dark and menacing the next (guns are fired, people are shot), Africa United walks an uneasy line between a kids' movie and something more adult orientated. The amateur actors make up for their rough-around-the-edges performances with pure energy and belief; driving the story is Eriya Ndayambaje, who centres the film with his narration, is a likeable lead and tackles Dudu's character contradiction - he's naïve and innocent, but also life experienced - with ease.

A thoroughly likeable film that delivers its hard message as softly as possible, Africa United is one to look out for.