Educational Media Reviews Online

The World at 10 is a multifaceted cinema verite documentary. Primarily focused on two children in Grade 5 at Lord Dufferin School located in Regent Park, a Canadian inner city, it paints a portrait of different languages, cultures, geographies, families, independence, freedom, immigration and hope. Filmmakers Husain and Basmajian follow Neola, having arrived in Canada from Guyana two years earlier, a problem child and also a burgeoning writer; and Mahfuzur, who emigrated from Bangladesh, and is struggling with his place at school and at home. They are led and cared for by Ken Scott, a black male Grade 5 teacher, and the “strictest” and “meanest” teacher in their school.

As the documentary unfolds, we learn that Neola has left her mother and grandmother back in Guyana, and as she struggles with her frustration and sadness she acts out repeatedly and even gets suspended for vandalism. Older than her 10 years, Neola has great potential – will she go down the right path or the wrong one? Mahfuzur is a sensitive boy with several siblings, struggling to remain a child as he deals with his parents’ split attention and poor language skills. Despite the fact that these children are only 10 years old, and most of the time act accordingly, there are moments when they are quite profound, questioning God’s existence, the purpose of rules, and the role of the important people in their lives.

Although the documentary would have been much more interesting if it had focused on more than 2 children, the piece is well done and has moments of very clever editing. The documentary is closed captioned and the film’s video and audio components are of good quality. The World at 10 is recommended and aptly covers the subject categories of child development, biography, Canadian studies, education and multicultural studies and is best suited for school libraries and university curriculum collections.