Below is a list of recommended films on issues relating to child soldiers. Please contact us if you would like to contribute to this list.

Fight Like Soldiers, Die Like Children (2012)

DIRECTOR Patrick Reed
When you’ve been to hell and back, how do you shake the memories? This question has haunted General Roméo Dallaire since he was UN Commander during the Rwandan genocide. Dallaire’s new mission: ending the use of child soldiers.

Rebelle (War Witch) (2012)

DIRECTOR/writer Kim Nguyen
Somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, Komona a 14-year-old girl tells her unborn child growing inside her the story of her life since she has been at war. Everything started when she was abducted by the rebel army at the age of 12.

Children of War (2010)

DIRECTOR Bryan Single
Children of War is a documentary produced by Bryan Single and follows the healing process for former LRA child soldiers at the Rachele Rehabilitation Centre in Northern Uganda. Mr. Single spoke with CSR’s Kate Davey about rehabilitation through children creatively expressing themselves, their healing process, and his opinion on what the future holds for such former child soldiers.

Innocent Voices (2004)

DIRECTOR/writer Luis Mandoki
A young boy, in an effort to have a normal childhood in 1980′s El Salvador, is caught up in a dramatic fight for his life as he desperately tries to avoid the war which is raging all around him.

Ezra (2007)

DIRECTOR Newton Aduaka
Ezra is the story of a seven-year-old boy kidnapped by rebels while on the way to school, who turns into a vicious soldier and seeks redemption after the atrocities he visits on hapless people and witnesses in the eleven-year-long Sierra Leonean civil war. Under the influence of drugs, Ezra attacks his village and kills his own family.

Johnny Mad Dog (2008)

DIRECTOR Jean-Stephane Sauvaire
A cast of unknown performers are used in this drama about child soldiers fighting a war in an unnamed African country.

War Child (2008)

DIRECTOR Christian Karim Chrobog
Hip-hop star Emmanuel Jal returns to Sudan where he served as a child soldier.

War Dance (2007)

DIRECTOR/writers  Sean Fine and Andrea Nix
War Dance follows the courageous efforts of Potango’s students as they pour their hearts into winning this year’s music competition. The war has stolen their homes, their parents and their childhood. Pontango’s refugee camp packs 60,000 people into its endless squalor. There is no electricity, no running water, and no safe place. The bullet holes in the school walls tell the stories the children would rather forget. Two years ago the L.R.A. dragged 29 students from Potango’s schoolhouse to “join” the army.

Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal’s Maoist Army (2008)

DIRECTOR Robert Koenig
The Documentary tells the personal story of Nepali boys and girls as they attempt to rebuild their lives after fighting a Maoist revolution. Through the voices of former child soldiers, the film examines why these children joined the Maoists and explores the prevention of future recruitment. The children describe their dramatic recruitment and participation in the Maoist People’s Liberation Army during the eleven-year civil war between the Maoist insurgents and the Hindu monarch of Nepal. The girls’ stories demonstrate how voluntarily joining the violent Maoist struggle became their only option to escape the gender discrimination and sexual violence of traditional Hindu culture in Nepal. With the major conflict ended and the Maoists in control of the government, these children are now discarded by the Maoist leadership and forced to return home to communities and families that want nothing to do with them. For many of the children of Nepal’s Maoist Army, the return home can be even more painful than the experience of war.

Heart of Fire (2008)

DIRECTOR Luigi Falorni
The true story of Senait Mehari, who came of age as a young girl soldier during the Eritrean civil war.

Kassim the Dream (2008)

DIRECTOR Kief Davidson
This is the story of World Champion Boxer, Kassim “The Dream” Ouma – born in Uganda, kidnapped by the rebel army and trained to be a child soldier at the age of 6. When the rebels took over the government, Kassim became an army soldier who was forced to commit many horrific atrocities, making him both a victim and perpetrator. He soon discovered the army’s boxing team and realized the sport was his ticket to freedom. After 12 years of warfare, Kassim defected from Africa and arrived in the United States. Homeless and culture shocked, he quickly rose through the boxing ranks and became Junior Middleweight Champion of the World.

Child Soldiers (2002)

DIRECTOR/Writer Alan Lindsay
The documentary team follows these children and films them under fire. They record the intimate stories of escapees from the rebel groups that routinely force the children into committing atrocities. They are present when these children re-unite with family and community, some undergoing a simple but emotionally charged ceremony of tribal rites and human compassion. Even back with their families, the children are not necessarily safe. They are kidnapped to be soldiers, escape, go home to their villages, only to be kidnapped again and again.

Wide Angle: The Lord’s Children (2008)

DIRECTOR PBS production
Wide Angle is with the center’s counselors as they help the physically and emotionally scarred children put their lives back together. Jennifer Akelo was abducted by the LRA when she was nine years old, handed a gun and trained to fight. Raped by a rebel soldier, Jennifer now fears that she is HIV positive. Kilama, 13, is rejected by his grandmother who is fearful of his turbulent past. Homeless, he wanders to the nearby city, like thousands of other children, in constant fear of being re-kidnapped by the rebels.

No More Tears

DIRECTOR a film by Discover the Journey
No More Tears is a film about child soldiers and their journey to become peacemakers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The film follows Heretier – a former violent child soldier who was given the chance of a new way of life after being given a scholarship to a rehabilitation center, and his decision to search for his best friend Moisha who he fought side by side with in the rebel group called the Mayi-Mayi. During Heritier’s search for Moisha, he becomes a peacemaker, shedding his former identity as a tool of war, and calling his friend to a life of peace instead of death. This story is human and heroic, and will inspire people to enter their own journey of becoming peacemakers, even in the face of injustice.

Soldier Child (1998)

DIRECTOR/writer Neil Abramson
Soldier Child tells the stories of the atrocities and brutality endured by children forced to serve the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

The Children’s War (2009)

Documentary – Former Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda