Born Slaves
Date: Sunday, April 5, 2009
Synopsis: A riveting documentary exposes the reality that human bondage has never ended in Mauritania. The North African nation still has a caste of slave and former slaves who remain shackled to their masters. Indeed, the child of a slave woman belongs to her master. As all Mauritanians are Muslim, the film explores how some political and religious authorities sanction slavery despite it being technically outlawed since 1981. Sixteen-year-old Bilal recounts how he fled his master to search for his mother. Former slave and abolitionist leader Boubacar Messaoud shows how his organization tries to undo centuries of slavery. Shot secretly by the production team disguised as tourists, the film provides one of the outside world's first cinematic looks at a human rights atrocity.