?The Boys of Baraka? details two years in the lives of 20 African American boys from the projects in Baltimore, Maryland.

What was most prevalent when the film first began was the hopelessness with which they were faced. In their neighbourhoods they were as likely to end up dead or in prison by 18 as to graduate from high school.

As the film starts there are police sirens and young males being arrested ? and this theme is unrelenting.

When the filmmakers go into the Dunbar School, one becomes aware that the children believe is almost nothing.

The boys are then offered the opportunity to attend the Baraka School, in Kenya.

One of the 20 boys who were chosen was named Richard. He told the story of his neighbourhood, where so many people were either on drugs or drug dealers.

He also expressed a wish that he did not want his younger brother Romesh to grow up on the projects. Both boys were chosen to go to Baraka School.

Another boy Montrey was clearly troubled and had been suspended from his school eight times for one reason or another.

But his aim was to become a scientist. His mother told a story of a 17-year-old boy who was killed in front of them.

Before departing for Baltimore, Richard visits his father in prison ? his dad was locked up for 13 years, because he had shot the boy?s mother.

The father had no hope and Richard was desperately trying to find just that ? hope.

He looked for it for himself and Romesh in Kenya.

None of the boys had passports and for many it was the first time that anyone in their family had been on a plane.

So when they got on the plane it was like aliens trying to speak English.

The Baraka School was in the outback and the nearest town was over 20 miles away.

The film is beautifully shot, they captured everything from the wild beasts to the rust coloured sands.

The aim of the Baraka School was that the boys spend two years in Kenya and when they returned to Baltimore they would be eligible to apply and or attend any of the competitive high schools in the area.

Throughout the film the boys had to deal with their fears, for Richard it was learning to read, his brother Romesh thrived and became an honour roll student while Montrey excelled at maths.

Once the boys returned to Baltimore for their summer vacation, it was clear that they no longer fit into the African American landscape.

Richard just stayed in for the summer and was pining for Kenya.

But more disappointment was looming and politics and terrorism were about to play a major role in the young men?s lives.

The American Embassy in Kenya was bombed and the school was closed.

The events dashes the boys? hopes and their parents feared their children will end up dead in the ghetto streets.

Over the next nine months, the boys were followed as they returned to Baltimore.

The results varied. Richard, who one thought would succeed, felt that his future dreams could only be achieved if he returned to the Baraka School.

He and his brother began fighting and he returned to not studying.

Montrey, who had always been fighting, became a top maths student in one of the most competitive high schools in Baltimore.

Though The Boys of Baraka brought tears to my eyes throughout, it is well worth viewing, because as much as the content is somewhat depressing and hopeless ? it also details some hope.

In Baltimore there are huge black signs that simply say BELIEVE ? I hope the boys continue do so.