The Human Experience 2008

    Adventurers and friends embark on a journey asking questions about life in different situations.  Their first project is to be homeless in New York, live on the streets and go without readily available food and shelter.  This is a tough first assignment in the harsh winter temperatures, asking for food and sleeping in cardboard boxes near strangers in their own boxes.  Their next journey is working with orphans in Peru.  The children cannot live with their families for different reasons.  Some have difficult physical limitations and others have parents who don’t want them or can’t take care of them.  Their next experience is a visit to a forest leper colony in Ghana Africa.  The people are suffering but they are happy.

     This was a worthwhile journey both emotionally and intellectually for all the participants.  Stepping beyond yourself requires courage and it does make you think about your family and your own situation.  Comparisons encourage gratefulness for abundance and a more outward focus.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

90 Min, Doc directed by Charles Kinnane with Jeffrey and Clifford Azize, Michael Campo, Matthew Sanchez, Franklin Ojeda Smith. 

Note:  Blockbuster 2*, imdb 7.0 out of 10, 77% audience on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Special Note:  I looked up leprosy since I thought this was a curable disease.  It can be treated since it is cause by a bacteria, a single lesion can be treated with one dose of rifampicin, olfoxacin and minocycline.  Multibacilary can be treated with rifampicin, dapsone and clofazimine taken over 12 months.  There are currently nearly 250,000 new cases a year.