Review of Far From Home: Uganda to the Tetons at the Sarasota Film Festival #SFF2015

By: Marijke

Far From Home is a documentary type of film about a young boy, who at the age of 10 was shipped off to America from his homeland of Uganda.

At the age of two he was abandoned in Uganda, by a sorry excuse for a mother who went to America, to be left behind with a father who regularly beat him.

At the age of 10, his biological mother sent for him with  money given her by a friendly benefactor—said benefactor, who in short order became his foster type mother where he lived for many  years, until another family took over his care and all of the moved to Jackson Hole.

Before he, Brolin, left Uganda he had already developed a fascination for skateboarding, which upon arriving in America he found two other boys who also loved this pass time.  Skateboards, however very quickly turned into snowboards as there was so much snow in the winter that skateboarding was not practical.

This then became the start for Brolin’s quest to become an Olympic competitor in the sport—but he wanted to represent Uganda.  As with many other Sarasota Film Festival movies, the director used flash backs—-which seem to be the “it” thing in producing/directing this year, to show how things were in Uganda when Brolin was still there and other more recent footage when Brolin was in Uganda trying to persuade the government officials there to sponsor him on his wish to the first Ugandian black snowboarding athlete representing Uganda in that sport.  As the documentary ends it is still not decisive as to whether Brolin will make the Olympic team or put all of his efforts continuing his studies to becoming a doctor.

As much, if not most, of the documentary was showing footage on snowboarding down mountains and hillsides, one thing is for sure, the audience certainly got the full feel of what it was like to be on a cold mountain as there were several people who had to have on their winter coats, jackets and /or scarfs on and around themselves to endure the cold in the movie theater.  If you like watching snowboarding for the vast majority of a documentary, then go watch this one—otherwise the writer would say don’t bother, as the amount of this activity shown can become a little monotonous.

This documentary gets a 2.5 out of 5.

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http://www.sarasotafilmfestival.com/