PREMIERE.COM'S REVIEW (posted 1/9/07)

God Grew Tired of Us, like many documentaries, is a study of the resilience of human nature and our ability to overcome enormous obstacles in the face of adversity. Specifically, in this case, that resilience is showcased through the story of three of Sudan's "Lost Boys," and their struggles to escape Sudan and build a new life in America. The film opens with vivid visuals of the Sudanese civil war, which began in the mid 1980s and has left millions dead. Twenty-five thousand pre-teen male orphans created by the atrocities, The Lost Boys as they came to be known, were forced to flee their homes and trek barefoot across the desert in search of safety. They fled to Ethiopia at first and were allowed to stay until government turmoil there forced them out. They set off to Kenya, where many are still located today. A select few, among them John Bul Dau, Panther Bior, and Daniel Pach,, were allowed to settle in the United States.

God Grew Tired of Us, which is lent plenty of glossy star power by narrator Nicole Kidman and executive producer Brad Pitt, follows these three of the less than 4000 Lost Boys who made it to America as they adjust to western culture and confront this major change in their lives already marked by great upheaval. Dau, Bior, and Pach have a difficult time adjusting to the cultural differences at first and they struggle to balance conforming to their new world while trying to maintain their own cultural identity. John Dau has plenty to say about how many of the refugees that have been relocated are becoming too westernized, but he is most candid about his own personal battle to survive in America and his desire to help the many remaining Lost Boys in Sudan. The films most endearing and poignant moment comes when he is reunited with his mother and sister.

If nothing else, this doc, which one the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at last year's Sundance Film Festival, will leave you feeling that the American dream is still alive and well. More urgently, it feels like a story that needs to be told; an engine to possibly drive change in the Sudan. At the very least, it's a powerful film.

— Joey Chase