‘Children of the Snowland’ is one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen. From the first scene to the last it had me on the edge of my seat, laughing and crying and falling in love with it’s main protagonists. These beautiful, funny, curious, sensitive and clever young people who for the sake of their families were prepared to take on one of the most perilous and physically challenging journeys and in the process learned so much about themselves, their beautiful country and the cruel circumstances that led their parents to make the most heartbreaking decision of their lives. I felt so grateful to be allowed to tag along.
Whenever privileged white westerners make any kind of film about the rest of the world there is a danger that they either put themselves in the centre of the narrative or that they treat their subject as an exotic bird to be watched in awe and not interacted with. Thankfully the makers of ‘Children of Snowland’ did none of that. Instead they provided three of the youngsters with camera equipment and some training and let them tell their own story. And the result is spectacular. There is a great sense of discovery throughout since these children were very young when they left their home and so have very few memories and are not at all used to the way of life in the remote mountain villages of Nepal. But there is also familiarity and an inevitable sense of belonging as they breathe the mountain air and wrapped in the love of their family, slowly find their roots.
Whenever privileged white westerners make any kind of film about the rest of the world there is a danger that they either put themselves in the centre of the narrative or that they treat their subject as an exotic bird to be watched in awe and not interacted with. Thankfully the makers of ‘Children of Snowland’ did none of that. Instead they provided three of the youngsters with camera equipment and some training and let them tell their own story. And the result is spectacular. There is a great sense of discovery throughout since these children were very young when they left their home and so have very few memories and are not at all used to the way of life in the remote mountain villages of Nepal. But there is also familiarity and an inevitable sense of belonging as they breathe the mountain air and wrapped in the love of their family, slowly find their roots.
Review by Ella Simone.
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