Darfur. We learn about the terrible situation every day. But how often do we hear the stories of individuals who have escaped the carnage of the Sudan?
Narrated by Nicole Kidman, God Grew Tired Of Us reveals the plight of young Sudanese men growing up in a Kenyan refugee camp and then traveling more than a thousand miles to the U.S. during the 1980s to escape the horrendous conflict in their home land. These children - ranging in age from 3 to 17 - came to be known around the world as The Lost Boys. The documentary shows archive footage of the children wondering through the African desert in search of a new home, but the story really begins when a group of the older Lost Boys are selected to work and live in America.
God Grew Tired of Us is beautiful in that it shows the transition from the third-world African terrain to the boys' relocated homes in Syracuse, New York and Pittsburgh. Their biggest challenge is adjusting to the fast pace of American life, as they are fully thrust into our capitalistic world, learning to use toilets rather than trenches, eating mac and cheese with a fork instead of their hands, and working in new professions. There is a great contrast between the lives of the boys-only refugee camp in Kenya and the modern American experience, and watching the boys adapt is both inspiring and heartbreaking.
Rather than ending the film with the boys' arrival in America, directors Christopher Dillon Quinn and Tommy Walker chose to follow up with them three months, six months, one year and three years after they escaped. The few humorous moments in the film - like the boys seeing donuts for the first time - are fantastic, and the film would have benefited from more. Funded by Brad Pitt's Plan B Productions, God Grew Tired of Us won the "Grand Jury Prize: Documentary" and the "Audience Award" in the "Independent Film Competition: Documentary" category at the 2006 Sundance Festival, for more than sympathy alone.
Make sure to bring enough tissues - God Grew Tired of Us will leave you in tears on several occasions.
