POV: Lost Boys of Sudan

Starring:Santino Majok Chuor, Peter Kon Dut
Director: Jon Shenk, Megan Mylan
Studio: New Video Group
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Lost Boys of Sudan, which premiered on PBS's P.O.V. series in 2003, is a gripping documentary about young refugees from the Sudanese conflict as well as a moving story of survival and acclimation in a strange and daunting land. The film centers around two young Dinka tribesmen who must flee a vicious civil war in their homeland and risk thirst, starvation, and animal attack to reach refugee camps thousands of miles away in Kenya in Ethiopia. Once there, the "lost boys'" journey begins again, as they are resettled in Houston, Texas, and must start new lives in a completely alien country. Eventually, their adjustment to 21st century life becomes the film's main focus; can they join American society and still retain their tribal connections? Told in simple but powerful images, Lost Boys of Sudan affectingly addresses themes of home, acceptance, family, and what it means to be a member of society--both America and the global community. --Paul Gaita
Description
Winner of an Independent Spirit Award and named Best Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival, LOST BOYS OF SUDAN follows two teenage Sudanese refugees on an extraordinary journey from Africa to America, offering a gripping and sobering peek into the myth of the American Dream. In the late `80s, Islamic fundamentalists in Sudan waged war on the country's separatists, leaving behind over 20,000 male orphans, otherwise known as "lost boys." For those who survived this traumatic ordeal and found their way to refugee camps, som were chosen to participate in a resettlement program in America--a distant place so presumably full of hope and opportunity that the Sudanese sometimes call it Heaven. But what if a free ticket to "Heaven" turned out to be anything but? Sidestepping conventional voice-over narration in favor of real-time, close-quarters poignancy, LOST BOYS OF SUDAN focuses on Santino and Peter, members of the Dinka tribe, during their first life-altering year in the United States. Safe at last from physical danger--but a world away from home--the boys must grapple with extreme cultural differences as they come to understand both the abundance and alienation of contemporary American life.

POV: Lost Boys of Sudan
Average customer rating:

plight of the refugee

Dissapointing to Say The Least

Great Informational Tool, Subtitle Malfunction

powerful and compelling documentary......

Great Information But Not-So-Great Documentary

POV: Lost Boys of Sudan
Starring: Peter Kon Dut , and Santino Majok Chuor
Director: Megan Mylan , and Jon Shenk
Manufacturer: New Video Group
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002V7NYI
Release Date: 2004-11-02

Amazon.com

Lost Boys of Sudan, which premiered on PBS's P.O.V. series in 2003, is a gripping documentary about young refugees from the Sudanese conflict as well as a moving story of survival and acclimation in a strange and daunting land. The film centers around two young Dinka tribesmen who must flee a vicious civil war in their homeland and risk thirst, starvation, and animal attack to reach refugee camps thousands of miles away in Kenya in Ethiopia. Once there, the "lost boys'" journey begins again, as they are resettled in Houston, Texas, and must start new lives in a completely alien country. Eventually, their adjustment to 21st century life becomes the film's main focus; can they join American society and still retain their tribal connections? Told in simple but powerful images, Lost Boys of Sudan affectingly addresses themes of home, acceptance, family, and what it means to be a member of society--both America and the global community. --Paul Gaita

Description

Winner of an Independent Spirit Award and named Best Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival, LOST BOYS OF SUDAN follows two teenage Sudanese refugees on an extraordinary journey from Africa to America, offering a gripping and sobering peek into the myth of the American Dream. In the late `80s, Islamic fundamentalists in Sudan waged war on the country's separatists, leaving behind over 20,000 male orphans, otherwise known as "lost boys." For those who survived this traumatic ordeal and found their way to refugee camps, som were chosen to participate in a resettlement program in America--a distant place so presumably full of hope and opportunity that the Sudanese sometimes call it Heaven. But what if a free ticket to "Heaven" turned out to be anything but? Sidestepping conventional voice-over narration in favor of real-time, close-quarters poignancy, LOST BOYS OF SUDAN focuses on Santino and Peter, members of the Dinka tribe, during their first life-altering year in the United States. Safe at last from physical danger--but a world away from home--the boys must grapple with extreme cultural differences as they come to understand both the abundance and alienation of contemporary American life.

Customer Reviews:

plight of the refugee.......2007-06-04

Good film showing the struggles of two refugees' integration into American society. Shows the everyday struggles of two young men that have known nothing but hardship. This documentary shows bits of life in the refugee camp, through their transition and first year in America. Would've liked to have gotten more of their back story, as it is an amazing story of survival.

Dissapointing to Say The Least.......2007-01-17

Unless you are interested in the challenges posed by introducing a number of displaced youth who have grown up in an extremely deprived and disjointed society to the United States, this movie will not "do it" for you.

The most intruiging phenomenon in the entire film is the obvious mistrust and lack of connection between poor African-Americans and poor Africans, beyond the color of their skin.

For the most part, the situation exists between most working-class Africans and the African-Americans with whom they are lumped up with and have to coexist with at work and home (if they live in predominantly black neighborhoods) and is therefore nothing new, unless you are of a different race.

Great Informational Tool, Subtitle Malfunction.......2006-07-06

This film provides a great informational tool about the struggles and opportunities of refugees trying to make it on their own in a new place. As a history teacher, I am excited to show this to my class to demonstrate assimilation and acculturization. My one problem, and this is a big problem, is that a great deal of the subtitles go way off of the TV. This made seeing what they were saying difficult. I couldn't even see the information at the end. I have a pretty big TV, so I'm sure that this might be a persistent problem. Also, the deleted scenes have no subtitles. But all in all, this is a great glimpse of their lives. The most eye-opening is the tension between African Americans and the Africans. Ironically, the boys from Africa got along better with their white friends than the African Americans. Also interesting is the "help" the church tried to give. They keep delivering all of this furniture to the boys' tiny apartment, yet the lady from the church (who looks just like actress Shelly Long) virtually ignores their pleas for help in finding jobs and educational opportunities. She walks away from them and says "They're angry"

powerful and compelling documentary.............2006-01-16

For anyone unfamiliar with the plight of the numerous lost boys of Sudan, I really reccomend you check out this powerful, compelling, cautionary and very educational film, that looks at two young men who made it out of the turbulence of their country and were able to make a life for themselves in the United States. The Lost Boys consist of some 200,000 (or more) young Sudanese refugees, orphaned, left orphaned and alone in the African nation of Sudan. One connection out of the poverty and desolation of their country, is if they are able to obtain sponsorship through church-based programs in the United States. The two boys profiled in this film were recipients of this sponsorship.

While one journeys to Texas, to seek out work, buy a car and also attend classes at the local high school, the other's journey takes him to a small (predominantly Caucasian) town in Kansas, who attempts to integrate himself into a foreign, and a culture for which he finds himself, both, daunted and isolated.

I believe everyone should see this film, and, in fact, I think it should be implemented in the high school curriculum as a pre-requisite for all students. It is important that we all receive an education in the personal struggles of refugees, like these two young men. This film only scratches the surface, into this subject matter. There are so many important stories, like this, that need to be told!

Great Information But Not-So-Great Documentary.......2005-09-21

For me, the thing that makes a documentary enjoyable is a.) Is the information new and engaging? and b.) Is it presented in a coherent and even-flowing fashion? On the first point, THE LOST BOYS OF SUDAN delivers. We get to hear about the little known religious war in Sudan that killed (and continues to kill) millions of people. Most of those that were murdered (let's call it what it is) were adults. And left behind are their children who flee to refugee camps. Tens of thousands of children made it to these tent cities where they've grown up or died. But a few of them are lucky enough to get access to America, and fly into Houston to become U.S. citizens. This documentary follows the lives of two of THE LOST BOYS and we get to see how leaving their native lands affects them, and how American culture clashes but ultimately enfolds them. Great information.

On point "b", though, the film gets a serious thumbs down. The editing was terrible, a patchwork quilt of events rather than a concise look at these boys' lives. The information was just too broad. They show us their struggle with grades, language, driving, sports, living together, paying rent, jobs, trying to find girlfriends, etc., etc., etc. I would've liked to have seen them focus on a select few items and get us into the microcosm of these issues. For instance, I would've enjoyed learning more about their struggles to get into schools while working at the same time. But all we get is one basic phone call that one of the boy's makes where he talks to family about this issue ...and that's it. We don't hear anymore about it. There were other instances in the film where similar things occurred, too (subjects brought up and then suddenly dropped.)

But even with these problems, the documentary is interesting and informative.

For truly excellent documentaries, though, try DARK DAYS or BORN INTO BROTHELS.

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