Volunteer Movies?

By Kate | Permalink | No Comments | March 25th, 2007 | Trackback

If you’re looking for movies about volunteering…good luck! There don’t seem to be a whole lot about volunteering per se, though I imagine there are a great number of documentaries about individual countries or communities and/or different kinds of aid.

Some movies I’ve seen with a focus you might enjoy if you’re interested in volunteering or international aid are:

• No Man’s Land – winner of the 2002 Oscar for Best Foreign Film; three soldiers from two sides are trapped in a trench in Bosnia, one of them lying on top of a mine…the presence of different international organizations plays a role as well.
• Welcome To Sarajevo – a British journalist – with the help of Woody Harrelson (as – surprise! – a renegade news reporter) gets involved in helping some kids in an orphanage during the war.
• Beyond Borders – Angelina Jolie travels around the world with UNHCR. I have to admit it’s not the best film I’ve seen – and (SPOILER) the fact that a major character dies when she steps on a landmine adds a certain “cheesy” angle – but there are a number of interesting issues dealt with and dilemmas raised if you can deal with the story.
• The Constant Gardner - Ralph Fiennes is a diplomat and his young wife starts investigating something or someone for sketchy practices and then goes missing. Beautiful landscape as it was filmed in Kenya, Germany, Sudan, Manitoba, and London.
• Not a movie but seasons nine or ten of ER, where doctors Luka Kovac and John Carter spend some time with a medical aid organization in the Congo. An interesting dilemma is raised when John decides he will personally pay for the medication of one woman involved in a drug study.

If you know of a good movie or documentary, let me know here as a comment!

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