SummaryIn Karachi, Pakistan, a runaway boy's life hangs on one critical question: where is home? The streets, an orphanage, or with the family he fled in the first place? Simultaneously heart-wrenching and life-affirming, These Birds Walk documents the struggles of wayward street children and the samaritans looking out for them. [Oscilloscope Pictures]
Directed By:Omar Mullick, Bassam Tariq
These Birds Walk
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
82
User score
Generally Favorable
7.8
My Score
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Metascore
Universal Acclaim
82
88% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
13% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Oct 31, 2013
100
The filmmakers record the flash of youth’s headlong energies, its bumps and bruises, and its melancholies and brilliant chaos.
Nov 27, 2013
90
Deeply moving and devoid of melodrama, These Birds Walk is as pragmatic as its subjects.
Oct 29, 2013
88
The filmmakers use a wide range of cinematic techniques to convey the tenuous environment in which their subjects find themselves.
Oct 29, 2013
80
Viewers can walk away with something more precious than factoids: an emotional, aesthetically striking experience that cuts more deeply than words. And if they crave more information, that’s what the Internet is for.
Oct 4, 2013
70
Instead of explaining the system through conventional narration, which would have been extremely helpful, the filmmakers immerse auds in the world they found, capturing its subjects’ behavior with startling candor.
Oct 29, 2013
60
Those reunions are not always happy ones—one relative claims that his nephew would be less trouble dead — but they offer a brief, striking glimpse into the situations that make such a organization necessary.
User score
Generally Favorable
7.8
75% Positive
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
25% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Mar 11, 2014
10
A masterpiece. There has, perhaps, never been a greater documentary made on the effects of poverty on children in the Third World. By eschewing statistics, and interviews, "These Birds Walk" simply points the camera (the cinematography is breathtaking) and watches. Emotions of disbelief, shock, and helplessness follow, as you watch a group of runaway children in Karachi, Pakistan, navigate a broken shell of a nation, and on a smaller scale, of family. These aren't kids; these 8 year olds are already adults, ripped from childhood and already gathering in groups to discuss politics and religion, to break into sectarian groups as their parents do. It is absolutely heartbreaking and devastating.
Awards
Abu Dhabi Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
Zurich Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Nashville Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
