CHILDREN UNDERGROUND

“I don't believe in love. I believe in God. Because he's bigger.” hard wisdom from Cristina, a teenage tough who shaves her head to better pass as a male and better dominate her small band of cast-offs and runaways in CHILDREN UNDERGROUND, an unflinching verit? documentary about street children in post-Communist Romania. During Nicolae Ceausescu's regime all contraception and abortion were outlawed; now up to 20,000 homeless kids, many mentally ill or addicted, severely tax the very few welfare organizations maintained for their benefit. For Cristina, the choice was either shelter in an asylum or being left on her own, beneath the pavements in Bucharest's Plata Victoriel subway terminal. She opted for the latter, and tries to impose order on a small tribe of stray adolescents. They include the paint-sniffing Macarena (named after her favorite dance); 12-year-old Mahai, who says he only wants to learn a trade and go to work; and Ana and her little brother Marian, who falsely claim they willingly left behind a “perfect” family to live rough. For all the calloused exteriors, they are all stilll heartbreakingly recognizable as vulnerable young people, and in candid, often startling interviews, these members of a lost generation describe their helplessness and vanishing innocence. (In Romanian with English subtitles)