There's a two-hour cut of See Them Run that's also available to watch on Openfilm. I'll review that one at a later date. Here, I'd like to tackle the 20-minute version, which pares the story down to its essentials.

The documentary is about a project initiated by Erin Van Wiltenburg. Born and raised in Canada, Erin has always been involved in issues dealing with Africa, and she decided she wanted to do something about it. In April 2008, she and two other runners began a 4200-km run to help raise money for African education. The film follows them all the way, from the start in Walvis Bay, Nambia to an unforgettable shot at the end showing them soaking in the ocean in Tanzania.

See Them Run reveals the beautiful side of Africa. (For the ugly side, I recommend going to the C1Entertainment channel and watching Touch a Life - Child Slavery on Ghana's Lake Volta.) Even the interviews are filmed with a lot of depth and scenery in the frame. We see the kids at their happiest, smiling and waving at the camera. Erin's personality is obviously much more fleshed out in the feature-length version, but even here she comes across as a very engaging person to be around. She speaks revealingly about her "martyr complex," and expresses her disappointment at having to skip part of the run because of an injury. There are some exceptionally well edited sequences that show Erin running and then show us who she's running for. Boards of Canada and Xavier Rudd provide the energetic soundtrack. This is an outstanding documentary made with a lot of humanity.