Boys Of Baraka

The Boys of Baraka, directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, follows the lives of four young boys from the projects of Baltimore, Maryland and their year studying at the Baraka school in Kenya. The mission of the Baraka school is to try and improve the lives of the young boys, who statistically are not predicted to graduate high school. The film begins by showing the boys, Montrey, Romesh, Richard, and Devon’s, lives beforehand, including the middle schools they attended and the home-life that each was accustomed. Continuing, it shows their personal journey during their year in Africa, and the change that came once there. The film concludes by showing the boys return to their homes and old lives for a summer break that turned into the cancelation

of the Baraka school after just one year, and the effects because of it. This brings about the question of “what caused the change in the boys, in Kenya and at home?” Was it surroundings, culture, attitude? The conclusion to this question can be explained through “The Trick to Being More Virtuous” by Arthur C. Brooks and “Opinions and Social Pressure” by Solomon E. Asch. Brooks focuses on the idea of moral elevation and Asch’s article shows how peer pressure can change an outcome, no matter how obvious the answer is. Each article explains how attitude towards surroundings and situations determines the outcome, whether good or bad.

Tying into the Boys of Baraka, the boy’s immersion into a different culture gave opportunity for change in their old actions and patterns, but it was ultimately attitude that determined their success or failure in Kenya and at home.
In “The Trick to Being More Virtuous”, Brooks describes a gift he was given from Mormon friends of his, and oddly, found himself “unconsciously trying to live up to the high standards of Mormon kindness” simply because of a logo engraved in leather. His attitude toward the situation had changed based on the encompassing value of an item people saw him with. The phenomena of moral elevation (an emotional state that leads us to act virtuously when exposed to the virtue of others), he explains, is the cause. This idea is brought about in a similar way in The Boys of Baraka. The boy’s attitude and actions changed completely when in Kenya, as shown throughout the film. Their grades improved; for example, Romesh made honor roll over the course of the year. The fighting went down, as shown through Montrey, who was suspended 8 times the previous year and only got into one fight in Baraka, causing him to realize his need for change. And the boys generally gained a more positive outlook toward their current circumstances. Because the boys were attending the Baraka school, they were linked to it. They began to act as their teachers did, and treat others as the people in Kenya did because of moral elevation. They saw the joy and peace of the Kenyan people, causing them to act similarly, depicted by a scene where the boys are singing and dancing at a Kenyan church. As by association, the boys began to act as they were expected, changing their attitude. Juxtaposing the beginning of the film, where the boys “play arrest” each other, to a scene where they all play with a hedgehog gives a small picture of a way the boys had changed.
The work of social psychologist, Solomon Asch, speaks to a phenomenon of human behavior which may explain the boys’ transformation. Asch found that that no matter how right or wrong something may seem, the power of peer pressure is triumphant. Black may become white if the majority says so. One example of this in “Opinions and Social Pressure” is as follows: three lines were shown to a group of students, as well as an identical line to one of the three. The majority were instructed to give an incorrect answer, while one dissenter who knew nothing of the experiment, was tested to see if he would be pressured into giving the incorrect answer. “Even when the difference between the lines was seven inches, there were still some who yielded to the error of the majority” (Asch 146). Comparing with The Boys of Baraka, the boys felt pressured at home to be as everyone else; to succumb to the drugs and violence. The attitude being was to jump off a bridge if everyone else jumped, to borrow the proverbial saying. But in Baraka, the boys felt pressured into a different area of action and attitude: to be kind, gentile, and try in school. To become respectful towards authority and of peers. It all required a change in attitude toward their environment. Montrey realizes his attitude has the power to change his experience after getting into a fight with another boy. “I just, switched my role around.” In other words, he changed his attitude. His attitude now became one of defiance toward the old pressures, and compliance toward the new ones, knowing things wouldn’t change if his attitude didn’t. Montrey tells the young man he fights with, “It’s gonna be hard, but if you can finish it, it’s gonna pay off in some kind of way” (The Boys of Baraka, Grady and Ewing), verbally demonstrating his change.
One scene depicted toward the end of the film shows brothers Richard and Romesh playing on an old, burnt playground in Baltimore.

Romesh exclaims, “They only taught us one year and it isn’t enough…. I think all our lives gonna be bad now.” His brother follows, bewildered and angered that the school has closed. Richard wishes the school would reopen and states, “But my dream ain’t gonna come true, so might as well just get that out my head” (The Boys of Baraka, Grady and Ewing). This clearly illustrates negative attitudes toward to closing of the school. Whereas Montrey does the best he can and tries with a positive attitude, Richard gives up in school. “That school do a lot of work, I don’t want to do it” he says (Boys of Baraka, Grady and Ewing). As in “Opinions and Social Pressures”, the Boys of Baraka goes back to this articles core idea. Richard had a positive attitude in Baraka. He had learning disabilities, but made the most of what he could and tried his best, even learning to read better. But, coming home, the pressure to be like the status quo; to have the attitude of failure and hopelessness toward a future, snuck its way back in. The idea of moral elevation in “The Trick to Being More Virtuous” was now lost. Because the attitude of others around Richard and Romesh in the peaceful and tranquil Kenyan environment was different, the moral elevation the two boys obtained was evident. Though, when they were surrounded by the negativity and fires and drugs of Baltimore,

moral elevation turned into moral demotion. Ultimately, the decision to accept that kind of an attitude did cause the brothers to give in to the preponderant masses around them.
While Richard and Romesh look defeated towards the end, Montrey and Devon were a different story. Devon went back to Baltimore surrounded by a church community who cared about him, and moral elevation yet again played into Devon’s future. Devon is shown at the end of the film praising God and preaching in front of his church. He was known to be in association with the church and his pastor, and “just like magic” (Brooks), his attitude changed. Devon acted as his fellow church members did, and like in “Opinions and Social Pressure” was pressured positively into being a satisfactory young man; one who wanted to preach someday. Devon’s attitude that ‘I can be better’ changed his future outcome: his success while at home. Montrey stated, “Baraka’s not my future… They helped me for the first year and now I’m on my own.” (Boys of Baraka, Grady and Ewing) In other words, ‘my decisions are up to me now’. Montrey’s attitude and willingness to change effected the success in his life. In “Opinions and Social Pressure”, the study showed that some dissenters knew what the masses were saying was wrong, and stuck to the answer they believed to be correct. Montrey did so as well. Even back in Baltimore where the people around him pressured him to give up, Montrey stuck with his positive attitude and continued as the dissenter with his correct answer.
The Boys of Baraka shows the four boys and their different experiences with the Baraka program. Some of the boys continued to act as they had in Baraka, others did not, but ultimately, whether change had happened in Africa or not, attitude determined the outcome of the situations that occurred in the boys lives. Attitude determined their viewpoint of a situation. “Opinions and Social Pressure” and “The Trick to Being More Virtuous” continue the idea that attitude toward situations determines outcome. Being pressured into a way of thinking or action still can be influenced by attitude, as well as moral elevation. The reaction toward the closing of the Baraka School, how hard did the boys work in school, did they resort back to their old ways of fighting and violence, can all be answered through the determinant of attitude. To adjust your attitude, just a morsel, can change an outcomes entirety.