VIFF 2012 review: Kinshasa Kids

And you thought Brazilian street kids had it tough! The luckless Congolese urchins we see in Marc-Henri Wajnberg’s harrowing documentary not only have to contend with everything tormenting their confreres in Rio de Janeiro, but also with the all-pervading suspicion that they are secretly witches, the moral equivalent of well-poisoners. Only the prospect of becoming the next Papa Wemba keeps some of them sane in streets so mean they look like the suburbs of hell. A soul-chilling but enlightening experience.