Director Kamal Dehane was a child during the Algerian war of liberation during the 1960s. The horrors he recalls from that period sadly parallel similar devastation in recent years, in which an estimated 100,000 lives have been lost since the cancellation of free elections in Algeria. Dehane intermixes archival images from forty years ago with subtle interviews with contemporary children. In speaking of their experiences, this new generation breaks the silence that has come to dominate large sectors of the country’s population and the international community. 

Made under the watchful eyes of a government censor, this documentary focuses on child labor in Egypt, where two million young people constitute eleven percent of the country’s work force. Showing children as young as seven and eight working in carpet factories, craft workshops, printing plants, and agricultural settings, the film investigates the lack of education and free time the children receive, even as their employers tout the benefits of learning a trade. Filmmakers Zada and Rountree are careful to acknowledge the cultural differences that emerge when Western eyes examine the difficult issues of developing countries.