LEW WI TOK MOVIE REVIEW

The Providence Journal - Providence, R.I.

Michael Janusonis, Journal Arts Writer

Aug 10, 2011

Rhode Island filmmaker John Lavall, who directed the moving film "Home Across Lands," about African refugees transplanted to the Ocean State, returned to Africa to explore the attempts to create an independent radio network in post-civil war Sierra Leone in his new film "Leh Wi Tok," which will be screened at the Flickers: Rhode Island International Film Festival Thursday, Aug. 11.

The beautifully photographed film explains how radio is the only method of reaching the people of the West African nation, many of whom are illiterate, and of the struggles of Andrew Kromah to keep his network viable. He opened his first station at the start of the civil war in Sierra Leone in 1993.

Until the war ended in 2002, more than 2 million people -- or one-third of the country's population -- had been displaced, and the survivors depended on the radio to keep them abreast of safe havens during the war and of government policies afterwards. At one point Kromah points out the bullet holes made when the military arrived at his station one night, intent on arresting him. Only his quick comeback reaction, when he pretended to be a station employee who hadn't been paid and who held a grudge against management, saved his life.

Lavall's cameras go out with a reporter who is investigating a mudslide that killed several children, visiting the site and government officials as to why something like this happened.

In another sequence, radio station manager Foday Lansana Sajuma visits an abandoned prison used during the civil war and shows the blood-stained walls.

Komah explains that his radio network, which is stuck between the haves and the have-nots, is low on funds. But as a "voice for the voiceless," as its motto reads, it is vital. "Leh Wi Tok" is a well-made film that demonstrates the things we take for granted are not accessible to people all over the world. "Leh Wi Tok" will be screened at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11, at the Paff Theater, 80 Washington St., Providence, as part of FLICKERS: The Rhode Island International Film Festival. "Leh Wi Tok" will be screened at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11, at the Paff Theater, 80 Washington St., Providence, as part of FLICKERS: The Rhode Island International Film Festival.