Critic Reviews

Harrowing yet hopeful film.

So well-intentioned it almost renders critical examination frivolous.

A serious work of analysis, rooting the resistance to reform in Third World government corruption and Western profiteering.

An impassioned plea for change, the film balances bleak, Dickensian conditions with details of a growing number of international programs designed to combat the epidemic.

It remains for a tougher documentary to more forcefully trace exactly who benefits from this shameful practice -- multinational corporations and consumers who don't ask enough questions.

Meryl Streep narrates this global update on child-labor abuses with all the enthusiasm and alarm of someone reading "The Pet Goat" to a classroom of second-graders.

As moviemaking, it's monotonous. But its insistence on breaking our hearts proves a reliable weapon.

Well meaning but less than riveting in its execution, this documentary is far better suited for public television exposure than theatrical release.

In its reliance on emotionally loaded voiceover and its disconcertingly direct appeals for support, Len Morris' old-fashioned docu seems more designed for fund-raising pitches than theatrical release.

Documentaries like Stolen Childhoods present an uncomfortable dilemma for anyone who cares how movies are made: They have virtually no aesthetic value, but compensate with unimpeachable social worth.