God Grew Tired of Us

fine, powerful and informative documentary loaded with emotion
God Grew Tired Of Us gives us a sensitive, human portrayal of the incredible strife the people of southern Sudan endured as they fled northern Sudanese troops entering their villages and killing their people. The footage of the Sudanese conflict does not pull any punches--it is quite graphic and I was truly upset by the needless suffering so many countless people faced. The characters in the United Nations refugee camp are easy to empathize with; and the plot of the documentary unfolds at a good pace that held my interest every step of the way. This is an outstanding documentary about a very long war in Sudan that received not enough attention from the United States and other world powers.

The documentary starts off showing the footage of the conflict and then we soon zone into a United Nations refugee camp in Kenya. It is touching to see these young men, now referred to as "the lost boys of Sudan" because they had nothing and no families left, forming makeshift families...

Footprints of an Exodus
The American experience takes on a whole new meaning when it is embraced by another culture. If necessity is the mother of invention, then America is the modern inventor of the immigrant nation with open arms. Immigrants have fled their countries out of want and persecution for nearly two centuries. What makes `God Grew Tired of Us' so captivating is that it traces the footsteps of refugees fleeing war, poverty, and persecution ravaging Sudan since 1983. Due to the keen editing of Johanna Giebelhaar and Geoffrey Richman, this nearly flawlessly paced documentary zeroes in on three male refugees who make their way to America and find a bewilderingly different life. ("The good-hearted people of America asked us to be there.")

Using footage of the aftermath of the civil war between northern Muslim Arabs and the beleaguered southern Christians, we are shown long lines of refugees taking what little they have to Kenya where ghostly, emaciated figures wait warily in new lines...

a must-see documentary
****1/2

If nothing else, watching "God Grew Tired of Us" will make Westerners realize just how much they take for granted in their daily lives. For this is a wonderful and deeply moving documentary about three young men from Africa and their first, awe-inspiring encounter with the modern world.

John, Daniel and Panther are refugees who fled Sudan when war and genocide ravaged that once-beautiful country in the 1980`s. They were part of a group of young boys who made an arduous and, for many, deadly trek from Southern Sudan to a refugee camp in Northern Kenya (those who survived the journey became known as "The Lost Boys of Sudan"). After living many years in substandard conditions at that site, 3,600 of the young men were given the opportunity to leave Kenya and start a new life in the United States. John, Daniel and Panther were three of those individuals.

As written and directed by Christopher Dillon Quinn (and narrated by Nicole Kidman), "God...

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