‘God’ is a film with a higher purpose
Most movies are meant to entertain us, but once in while a
filmmaker comes along who has a greater purpose. One such director
is Christopher Quinn. He and his crew dedicated more than four
years of their lives to
”
God Grew Tired of Us,
”
a documentary that follows the lives of three Sudanese refugees
as they start a life in America. The film won the grand jury prize
and the audience award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.
‘God’ is a film with a higher purpose
Most movies are meant to entertain us, but once in while a filmmaker comes along who has a greater purpose. One such director is Christopher Quinn. He and his crew dedicated more than four years of their lives to “God Grew Tired of Us,” a documentary that follows the lives of three Sudanese refugees as they start a life in America. The film won the grand jury prize and the audience award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.
In the late 1980s a civil war between Muslim and Christian populations in Sudan prompted an exodus of boys from the ages of 3 to 13. As part of the genocide, the opposing forces had started a campaign of killing off young Dinka boys or sterilizing them. Dinka is an ethnic group of Christian Africans that live along the Nile in Southern Sudan. Their culture was largely based on agriculture and they lived in a region where food and water were plentiful.
The boys were sent off on their own without parents or sisters to keep them company. They traveled across their nation to Ethiopia, fending off rebel fighters, starvation and wild animals. Eventually they traveled thousands of miles to Kakuma, Kenya where the United Nations had a refugee camp set up for 90,000 people. More than 12,000 of the people in the camp were Sudanese boys, dubbed the lost boys by a journalist.
Five years after they had arrived in the camp, United States officials agreed to relocate 3,800 of the boys to America. Quinn and his crew were on hand just as the boys, some who were now men, were preparing for their journey.
John Bul Dau, one of the oldest boys in the camp, left home at 13 and had been a leader for 1,000 boys during their travels. Daniel Pach had started a program called Parliament in the camp for times when they boys had to go four to six days without food. He would gather them under trees in Kakuma for songs and storytelling. His best friend, Panther Bior, settled with him in Pittsburgh, Penn., while Dau settled with other boys in Syracuse, N. Y.
While the story could have been a depressing watch, it is mostly a story of hope. Three young men who have been through the worst that humanity has to offer – one watched his father killed, they all saw women raped and children starve – offer their best to the world.
The documentary tugs at heart strings throughout, but provides comic relief. The scenes of the boys before they leave for America and when they first arrive are laughable. They have never heard of showers, toilets or electricity. They fret that they will not be very good at using it. When they encounter an escalator in an airport, dozens of the boys trip as they try to get on it.
After they arrive, a volunteer shows them how to turn on lights, how to get water to the right temperature for a shower – so they don’t burn themselves – and how to keep food in the refrigerator. Even food is confusing for them – one young man puts Ritz crackers in a pot, mashes them up, adds milk and cooks it into a sort of porridge. It is a reminder of all the things we take for granted and how most of us, even at the worst moments in our lives, are fortunate.
The men were given three months of assistance from government and after that they were required to get jobs to support themselves – and to pay back the United States for their flight costs from Sudan. Dau works two jobs – all day he sorts gaskets into boxes at a factory and works a night shift at McDonald’s. The other men also work hard.
Quinn and his crew capture the immigrant experience in a way that few filmmakers have been able to do. After being in the United States, it is clear that the men are still conflicted about their fortune. They fret that the long hours they work to take care of themselves keep them from spending time with each and they continue to worry about those they have left behind even years later.
Dau is most well-spoken of the three men. He is the one who ponders how it felt during the war, as though “God got tired of us.” For Dau, one thing that keeps him focused and working hard is sending money back to the refugee camp to help his friends. While the men continue to work and study, they also search for lost family.
From thousands of hours of film – Quinn and his crew visited the men for a week every two months for the years of filming – a narrative of hope emerges. Even people who experience the horror of civil war can make the world a better place. Dau works with several foundations in the United States to help lost boys keep in touch with their culture or get an education. He is also raising money to open a hospital near his native home. Bior hopes to open a school when he finishes his education. Pach continues his studies and makes a difference in even the lives of the people he serves at a Whole Foods Market.
While a peace treaty was signed in 2005, the after effects of decades of civil war are still felt by people in Sudan. Many have not returned home or have not found lost family. For more information on how to help, visit www.godgrewtiredofus.com/charities.html.
