These Sudanese 'lost boys' still have a story to tell
The documentary The Lost Boys of Sudan came out a couple of years ago. Its images of emaciated east Africans wandering the desert, orphaned and homeless from an epic civil war, were harrowing. The film followed a lucky few young Sudanese men as they were handed plane tickets to America, where they struggled to assimilate into an alien culture (frozen food? microwaves?), and searched for employment, and a place to call home.
The documentary The Lost Boys of Sudan came out a couple of years ago. Its images of emaciated east Africans wandering the desert, orphaned and homeless from an epic civil war, were harrowing. The film followed a lucky few young Sudanese men as they were handed plane tickets to America, where they struggled to assimilate into an alien culture (frozen food? microwaves?), and searched for employment, and a place to call home.
Director Christopher Dillon Quinn's God Grew Tired of Us is essentially the same story, with a different cast of "lost boys." It has more star power than its predecessor: Brad Pitt and Dermot Mulroney are producers, and Nicole Kidman supplies the voice-over. It's not as good, nor as complex, as The Lost Boys, but that doesn't make the story of mass annihilation, sprawling refugee camps, the generosity of Americans, and the resilience of a handful of Sudanese survivors any less worthy of telling - again.
God Grew Tired of Us trains its cameras on three young men: John Bul Dau, Panther Bior and Daniel Abul Pach. Along with a planeload of fellow lost boys, the trio arrive in the United States. (Whatever happened to the lost girls is a question the documentary never asks, let alone answers.) They share an apartment in Pittsburgh, where they are greeted with considerable hospitality, and hostility (the sight of a band of young blacks walking toward a convenience store prompted several neighbors to call the police), and where, after a time, they earn money to send to their families in Africa.
Dau, towering and charismatic, becomes involved in the national support network established to give the refugees a sense of community, and a voice, in the United States. He holds down two, sometimes three, jobs, and goes to college. He is the embodiment of the American Dream, only his real dream is to reunite with his long-lost mother. And to one day return home to Sudan.
God Grew Tired of Us *** (out of four stars)
Directed by Christopher Dillon Quinn. With John Bul Dau, Panther Bior and Daniel Abul Pach. Narrated by Nicole Kidman. Distributed by Newmarket Films.
Running time: 1 hour, 26 mins.
Parent's guide: PG (disturbing images, adult themes)
Playing at: Ritz at the Bourse and Ritz Sixteen/NJEndText