Bakoroman

Bakoroman follows five boys (they range from ages seven to sixteen), as they travel from their small village to the Burkinan capital, Ouagadougou, in search of money and acceptance. The filmmaker, Simplice Ganou, follows them closely, as they journey to on foot. We learn what their way of life entails, as well as how they feel about it. Finding out how they came to be on the streets was particularly interesting and something that I think a lot of people need to hear.

            A large part of what made Bakoroman effective for me is it’s structural simplicity. Naturalistic editing adds so much to this story, where flashy editing would have taken so much away. Some of the cinematography was also extremely striking in ares. You’d be forgiven for thinking it was a fictional coming of age fiction film, particularly with the shots of them walking down the tracks which was highly reminiscent of films like Stand By Me.

            The focus is mainly on the boys, but through them there’s a lot to learn about Burkinan society. One boy tells his interviewer that if it’s easier for him to steal rather than get a job, he’s going to carry on stealing. The film raises a lot of ideas like this, and it’s a conversation I hadn’t heard in a documentary before; the reasons for homelessness and it’s solutions, as well as the attitudes from those with more that the boys found themselves answering to on a daily basis.   

            I loved this one and I think you will too. My only gripe is I wish there was some text at the end telling us where the boys are now. You really get to care about them by the end.

Written by Ben Matthews