God Grew Tired of Us.

"So much history and geography is covered in God Grew Tired of Us, and the human story it conveys is so moving and so charged with ambiguous moral lessons, that it seems almost irresponsible to complain about it on formal or historical grounds," writes Andrew O'Hehir in Salon. "Let's put it this way: This is an important film. It's amazing that it exists, and the events it recounts are still more amazing. Everybody should see it. That said, the film has a certain TV-documentary feel that I found intermittently irritating."

"[Christopher] Quinn's documentary relates the travails of three of the 'lost boys' of Sudan, young men who, as children, were forced to separate from their families when the government ordered a mandate that they be killed during the Second Sudanese Civil War (which started in the early 80s and only just ended in 2005, and during which more than two million were killed),: writes Michael Koresky at indieWIRE. "In telling the tale of these young men, and the handful that were given the chance, many years later, to live in the U.S., Quinn's film manages to both horrify and delight, at equal turns, without feeling overly manipulative or imbalanced."

Updated through 1/14.

Rob Nelson in the Voice: "It's only a slight exaggeration to say that God Grew Tired of Us, winner of two documentary prizes at last year's Sundance, is another Hollywood gloss on human tragedy."

Earlier: David D'Arcy's review.

Updates, 1/12: In the New York Times, Stephen Holden calls the film "the softer, Hollywood-sanctioned version of an earlier documentary, The Lost Boys of Sudan.... Handsomely photographed and inspirational, but not cloyingly so, it is the rare contemporary documentary that doesn't leave a residue of cynicism and outrage."

"'Is this food?' one of the young men asks on their maiden supermarket voyage. 'This is a doughnut,' says the lady behind the counter, not necessarily answering the question," notes Carina Chocano in the Los Angeles Times. "Somehing about these questions - which are less Borat than spiritually evolved visitor from another planet - get at the larger ones about the culture with a lapidarian precision that's absolutely ruthless in its sincerity and innocence."

Update, 1/14: "[B]eauty, complexity and intensity emerge because filmmaker Christopher Quinn doesn't mistake indiscretion for intimacy," writes Steven Boone at the House Next Door. "That takes heart."

Posted by dwhudson at January 11, 2007 6:48 AM