Holly Mosher’s documentary “Hummingbird” focuses on the work of two non-profit groups in Recife, Brazil created to aid women and children in need of a helping hand. While the film pays a good amount of time to the efforts these non-profits make in creating a safe haven for these people, as well as a guiding light for a hopeful future, the truly hard hitting footage comes from Mosher taking to the streets and documenting exactly why these groups are important. Her camera captures kids running through the streets, hooked on sniffing glue and selling themselves for sex, many of them praying for a better life, while others are so out of it that they have no clue as to where they are. The mothers of these children, if they’re around at all, are of little help as they too are trapped in a personal hell, often the victims of domestic abuse and the crushing grip of hopelessness. Mosher drops us right into the middle of the doom and gloom of these peoples lives. First, you’re scared to death and then your heart just snaps in half.
But this heartbreak story does have an upturn and it is in seeing these women and children getting the help they need, seeing them begin the process to turn their lives around through the means of shelter, education and guidance. This is a story that sticks with you long after seeing it and will make you realize that if more people pitched in and helped those in dire need, that perhaps this world could be a better place worth living in.
