Volunteers and soldiers run separate search teams after four Indigenous Colombian children go missing after an almost fatal plane crash. One of these searchers, Henry Guerrero, has many reasons for joining the search team, including finding his Huitoto clan’s chief. He also joins the team because he was trying to get away from his wife. This gives this documentary the levity that I always end up finding even in films that deal with heavy subjects.

Orlando von Einsiedel’sThe Lost Children captures these stories as well as that of the home front, where mothers worry about those children. It also competently oscillates between that and the Colombian Amazon, the site of the crash and home to Indigenous groups. Many members of rebel groups were reluctant to join the soldiers, remembering the history of the government making people disappear.

An open forest is an intimidating space, a fact that The Lost Children reminds its viewers frequently, if not blatantly. It shows us the blood red moon, also a reminder of weeks passing, these children still lost in the forest. The same goes for the trees where, eventually, the volunteers can hear the children, waiting for their brave rescuers.

Guerrero and fellow searcher Eliecer take their share of camera time in a documentary that incorporates typical interviews and reenactments. Some who may watch The Lost Children may not be big fans of the reenactments but subjectively, they pass for me. If anything, they show that these searchers do their jobs with empathy, temporarily leaving the baggage of their painful histories.

The Lost Children treats the soldiers and the volunteers, obviously, as characters, and the same goes for the forest. Some of the imagery is fine, although this is when the reenactments may bug some of the viewers just like me. There’s the one scene where flashlights rustle through the trees which exaggerated what’s already true about the dark forest.

I keep going back and forth when it comes to the reenactments in The Lost Children, a redemptive element. Viewers can make assumptions about how all this is going to end, but I don’t want to give anything away. Von Einsiedel, working with co-director Lali Haughton and Jorge Duran on elements like sound design, add enough realism to put us during the integral moments during the long and arduous search.

The Lost Children, lastly gives viewers a chance to see how the news reported the search during its 40 day run. Archives show mothers holding on to their children while talking about the ones who are missing in the forest. All these elements reinforce the urgency that the rescuers felt while searching for these children who are normally left behind.

Watch The Lost Children on Netflix.