Wow! Such a good movie.

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It is not quite accurate to blame for all this tragedy the Bulgarians in general as being cruel and senseless. Yeah I can see that these kids are treated not better as a pigs in piggy house. But what I think about is that the problem is deep dug into the whole system of medical or social care as a state policy. Why the people leave behind their kids? You can make study and see that in Eastern Europe is much more likely this to happened compare to the countries ahead with the democracy (means more money). Who funds these orphanages? How much is the provided grant? In country where major state companies do not pay taxes , gives a clear insight about all financial issues. Blewett says "..far in the country side the things haven't changed since the communist era...". That's correct.But do you think that nobody wants to change them? Or all Bulgarians don't give a damn for helpless handicap kids? Whom you should blame is the government. The present one and the previous too, and one preceding the previous and so on, and so forth. For me this picture shows clearly what the people are capable in the time of devil-may-care kind of government state. Hence the real criminals are evident.

Bulgaria is one of the newest members of the European Union. Home to eight million people, the country has cities with plenty of money but rural areas that have barely progressed in decades. It also has the highest number within the EU of mentally and physically disabled people growing up in institutions away from their families. To follow up this statistic, Kate Blewett visits one such institution to find out how the children and cared for.It almost goes without saying that what she finds is not good or else this would not be a film! However I was not prepared by just how shocking and uncomfortable that the footage is. It is not new because I have seen this type of footage coming out of Eastern European orphanages before but that seems like decades ago – not in the past year or so. What we see here are skeletal children, rocking due to lack of stimuli, beaten by staff, fed and watered like animals and basically just left to fend for themselves between meals. It is a heavy watch and far from a pleasant experience but it is worth doing just to keep it in your mind that no everyone lives like most of us do in the West (even those in the West) and also why it is important to give to others. The footage of the children endlessly rocking or wasting away only just beat the shock of finally seeing the director, for whom apathy appears to be a quality that should be sought out.So in regards exposing these terrible conditions and total failure of the care system, the film is excellent – but this doesn't make it an excellent film. It might seem unkind to review it as a film when the subject is so worthy that one would like to think that it could have been shot on terrible cheap film and delivered with the audio and visuals out of synch and that it wouldn't matter but that is not the reality and delivery is still important. Sadly in this regard the film has several weaknesses that do hurt it. The most glaring one is the fact that the content is not well structured to fit a 90 minute slot. I'm not sure if the makers or the distributors decided on the running time but either way it is too much and the end result is that points are laboured. The shock of seeing the children does turn to numbness to some degree with the sheer volume of footage and I did think that the point had been made. Even the final shots of the film are too lingering and it is a flaw that goes across the whole film.The second weakness is, unfortunately, the presence in front of camera of Kate Blewett. As director and producer she deserves credit for bringing the subject to the table but her journalistic and humanistic qualities are not what you are dealing with for the majority of the film. As presenter and narrator, it also matters that she can engage the viewer with her style and voice; sadly she cannot and she is a bit of a black hole at the centre of the documentary. Her voice is terribly weak and wet and she does come over as a wishy-washy English rose – particularly when pictured with much "harder" Eastern European women who are much blunter in their manner. Of course this is unfair as her heart is in the right place but I found it hard to see her as the best choice to present. Others may not see this and indeed the film has had very high votes on this site (albeit only a handful of them) but I suspect that this is based on the worthiness of the film and not the film itself.Overall then what we have here is a very worthy documentary that is shocking and quite distressing in what it exposes. In this regard I cannot fault it because the view is clear and the film captures quite a few aspects of the problem. However I would be remiss if I did not note that the film itself is weak, running too long for what it had to do, thus labouring some of the points, while Blewett, to be credited for her role within making this film, saddles the film with a weak and whiney narration and presence that it really didn't deserve.

This was a powerful indictment of Bulgaria and its failure, indeed the failure of the European Union as well, to devote sufficient resources to the care not only of the children profiled but the adults we briefly glimpse as well. It may be that every country has a host of forgotten children and adults but this portrait is so wrenching, so agonizingly hopeless that one can almost appreciate the failure, almost understand it. "Spoiler alert" The interview with the director seems odd and unclear, seems almost comical in how her responses are so casual and unmeasured. Can she truly not blame the government? Can she truly not accept some modicum of responsibility? Is it really the fault of the staff? A Powerful and incredibly sorrowful film.

This is a wonderful documentary, that explores the plight of disabled kids in Bulgaria who are put in state institutions.It is shocking to see in what is considered a developed country like Bulgaria with its multi million tourist industry let the most vulnerable children get treated worse than animals.The smaller children are left sitting in a room all day every day, their monotony only punctuated by mealtimes. Many of the kids become sick by their treatment and lack of care. all are malnourished and think 12 have died in the past two tears. Some of them look like byproducts of a famine.The director and workers at the institution feel no responsibility for the children and dismiss everything that is wrong and evil in the place on the children's disabilities. One guy's only disability is that he is deaf and he and others get beaten frequently. There is also an undertone of sexual abuse happening throughout the documentary that should not be ignored.Bulgaria - Shame on you!!