Though The Boys of Baraka is well intentioned, I found it vaguely unsatisfying. The statistics on the common fate of Black boys in Baltimore are staggering, and the way in which the Baraka school program has an impact on those who are chosen to attend is wonderful to see. We’re provided an intimate portrait of some of these boys’ lives before leaving for Africa, which I found eye-opening. Where the film is lacking is in any information about the Baraka school – who’s behind it, what kind of success rate it’s had, how/why they chose Kenya, why Baltimore, and what happened to the program after the school closed. Did they ever succeed in implementing the program elsewhere? In other words, the filmmakers chose to focus on the boys hence the title, but I think that even the briefest of overviews of the school’s history would have set the tone a little bit better. Despite the unanswered questions, this film is worth viewing. Go to pbs.org for more recent updates on the boys, now young men.