Imagine the place where you grew up -- whether it's among the spindly pines of North Carolina, on the rocky coast of Maine, or somewhere equally distinct in your memory. Think of your fondness of it and how much it's a part of you. Now imagine you're 11 years old again. Attackers just executed your dad and your uncles in front of you. They have kept your mother and sisters for unimaginable purposes, and, at your mother's bidding, you escape. It is the last time -- at least for many decades -- that you will ever see those pines, that coast. And it is the last time you'll ever see your mother.

But you don't have time to take it all in and say goodbye; it's merely a blur as you run for your life. And you stay on the run for years -- with other children like yourself. You eat mud and drink urine to stay alive. You watch others die of starvation or wild animal attacks, and you dig their graves. You are still only a child. But now you are also an orphaned skeleton without a country, walking through the desert of an unknown land.

This was the story of young Sudanese boys in the 1990s, popularly known as the Lost Boys. And this tragedy was hurled onto them by Northern Sudanese, who wanted to purge black Christians and Animists out of an increasingly Muslim Arab country.

The plight of one small group of these wandering youths is traced in Christopher Quinn's excellent documentary, God Grew Tired of Us. After a brief but thorough detailing of their journey and the circumstances surrounding it, the film finds the Lost Boys at a refugee camp in Kenya. After years of being on the run, they now face daily boredom. And although they've created a strong community among themselves, they are haunted by the memories of what they left behind and frustrated by their inability to return to and effect change in their homeland.

In 2001, the United States began relocating some of these Lost Boy refugees to various locations around the country. God Grew Tired of Us follows three of the young men -- John, Daniel, and Panther -- to the United States and documents their experiences here over the next several years.

Best friends Daniel and Panther are settled in Pittsburgh, while John moves on to Syracuse, N.Y. As they try to make themselves at home in this new land, they must learn the very basics, such as how to turn on a light or take a shower. They then pursue jobs and an education while navigating through what is in their eyes a very unusual culture. A humorous but effective scene shows John exasperated at the presence of Santa Claus and Christmas trees. He can't find them anywhere in the Bible at Jesus' birth, he says.

Many more comical moments occur as the Lost Boys interact with the Western world. But Quinn never exploits their experiences for a laugh. If anything, watching the Lost Boys face technology, electricity, indoor plumbing, and American culture for the first time endears them to us as they overcome one hurdle after another. They demonstrate an earnestness and openness that is alien in modern America.

While they are in many ways thrilled to be in their new homes, the community-oriented Lost Boys find life in America lonely. They live four to an apartment yet spend most of their days working, leaving them very little time to interact with one another -- a sharp contrast to spending nearly 10 years in the constant company of their comrades. Complicating their lives is the obvious post-traumatic stress the youths suffer from the horrifying events of their childhoods, as well as the guilt they feel for having opportunities their friends and family didn't.

Nonetheless, John, Daniel, and Panther work hard to redeem themselves in their minds. They take on two and three jobs to send money back home, and they attend school to learn skills they hope to use one day to rebuild their beloved Sudan.

These three men are what separates God Grew Tired of Us from The Lost Boys of Sudan, another excellent documentary on the Lost Boys. Their ambition and dreams propel them to take charge of their circumstances. They come across as more proactive and opinionated than the subjects of The Lost Boys of Sudan.

As God Grew Tired of Us wraps up its years of documentation, we visit the three young men in their present circumstances. In one of the most jubilant moments I've ever seen captured on film, we find John reunited with his mother. We later learn that he has founded a nonprofit to build a medical clinic in his former hometown of Duk. He was pursuing a bachelor's degree at Syracuse University, and was later reunited with more of his family.

Panther found his mother and brother, and returned to Kenya to marry his girlfriend. He then came back to receive a degree at the University of Pittsburgh. He plans to open a school in the village where he grew up.

Sadly, Daniel never located any of his family, but he continues his education in the United States.
    
God Grew Tired of Us, which is narrated by actress Nicole Kidman, includes several additional features. Audio commentary by John, Daniel, Panther, and Christopher Quinn is available. A featurette entitled "Finding the Lost Boys," offers a short, behind-the-scenes look at the film, what led up to it, and its impact on viewers. There are also 10 previews of other movies, and a "Take Action" section that shows viewers how they can find out more about the Lost Boys and the current crisis in Sudan.

This moving film, which won a Film Festival Audience Award and a Grand Jury Prize at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, is a call to action on its own. By simply and quietly observing three extraordinary young men, it opens viewers up to the intense reality of an incident that was no more than a small news blurb to many -- and how the very victims of this tragedy may be key to rebuilding a broken country.

 

 
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