Strong Enough To Fight - Trailer
DESCRIPTION
Human rights film directed by Bob Miller.
Out of East Africa's largest slum comes an inspiring story of how friendship can heal a nation's wounds.
The unrest that gripped Kenyan slums following the disputed 2007 presidential election was the worst outbreak of ethnically motivated violence the country had ever seen. Idleness among youth, combined with the nation's history of ethnic rivalries, were cited as a key factors to the crisis in which young people were routinely bribed by the nation's political elite to carry out acts of violence against their neighbors. Ironically, youth were also the greatest victims of the violence, culminating in the deaths of over 1,200 Kenyans and the displacement of over half a million.
In the years following the crisis, however, Kenyan youth have begun to seize active roles in the reform of their nation. After moving around the country interacting with young people, United States Ambassador Michael Ranneberger said he sensed “a sea change of attitude” among youths, “a tidal wave below the surface. The youth have woken up.” Through a network of grassroots organizations born mostly out of slums, Kenyan youth have begun to gradually encourage reconciliation in their communities.
This non-fiction narrative follows the story of Kamau 'Kelly' Ng'ang'a, a 23 year-old Kenyan who dreams of becoming a professional boxer. As a young bantamweight fighter, Kelly left his family's comfortable home in the rural countryside to live and train in a Nairobi slum. He's part of a hodgepodge group of adolescents, each from different tribes, that calls themselves the Kibera Olympic Boxing Club. The group's ethnic diversity is remarkable given the recent post-election violence, in which people from different tribes were forced violently out of slums. Together, Kelly and his peers represent a nascent trend of cross-tribe brotherhood in a healing nation. After winning the 2011 Nairobi Open, Kelly sets his sights higher to the Kenya Open – a qualifying bout for the 2012 Olympic Games. But Kelly's dreams of representing his country are complicated by his nation's history of ethnic rivalries.
DETAILS
Language: English
Country: United States