These Birds Walk (2012)

Interesting facts

These Birds Walk is a 2013 documentary film directed by Omar Mullick and Bassam Tariq that follows the life of a runaway boy in Pakistan as well as the humanitarian efforts of Abdul Sattar Edhi.

Production

The starting point of the film is Edhi. He washes naked runaway children who look undernourished, and he says that his philanthropic reputation doesn't mean anything, telling the filmmakers, “If you want to find me, look to ordinary people.” For the rest of the film, Tariq and Mullick follow the children in the Edhi Home, in particular a child named Omar, and the ambulance driver, Asad, who was once a street kid himself.

Omar has run away from his family's home in Taliban country and ends up in Karachi. Aided by Asad, Omar goes to the Edhi Foundation's shelter for homeless children. Asad reveals that until the parents are found or come looking for the boy, Omar, like the other runaway children, will remain under Edhi's care.

Omar and the other children are bored and sad in the shelter. They divide their time between praying and fighting, and they bond over conversations about God and what it means to be a man. Omar thinks of himself as strong and fierce, which earns him a fight with a much larger boy in a prolonged fight scene.

Eventually, Asad drives Omar back to his village through the night and returns him to his family. The reunion is underwhelming, and his mother admits that all her children have spent time at the Edhi Foundation.

The filmmakers don't dwell on the boy's personal history or the workings of the Edhi Foundation, rather, the film captures how Omar spends his days while in the home with other runaway children.

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