Susan Granger’s review of “God Grew Tired of Us” (Newmarket/National Geographic Films)
Perhaps you’ve heard about the 27,000 boys, some as young as five, who fled Sudan when the Arab-Muslim north attacked the Christian, or animistic, south in 1983. In 1987, the Islamic fundamentalist government decreed it would kill all male children in the south. Many were burned in their homes. In terror, these boys, mostly from the Dinka tribe, fled on foot through more than 1,000 miles of sub-Saharan wilderness.
About 12,000 made it to the Kokuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, where they’ve lived for more than 15 years, away from their families, forming their own fraternal bonds. This documentary focuses on three of these “lost boys” – John Bul Dau, Panther Bior and Daniel Abol Pach – now young men, who were allowed to immigrate to the United States.
While they’re often awed by the marvels of electricity, toilets, apartments and supermarkets and always grateful, they’re also saddened by the lonely, alienated American lifestyle. Astonishingly eloquent, they articulate how they miss the close-knit group support as they adjust to this new, highly individualistic culture. In their spiritual values, kindness and consideration are of utmost importance, even with strangers.
One of their friends, we’re told, becomes mentally ill and must be institutionalized. But these three survive their relocation, struggle to get an education, and consistently send money back to friends and family in Africa, determined to help others from their homeland attain a better life.
Filmmaker Christopher Quinn utilizes archival footage to set the tone, as narrator Nicole Kidman provides connective continuity. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “God Grew Tired of Us” is an inspiring 10, proving that the American Dream is still alive and that the human spirit is, indeed, indomitable.
