Sundance. The Devil Came on Horseback.

"The aesthetic arguments against the film I heard in the post-movie chatter of the exit lobby - it's too long, it's depressing, some of the structure was off - must, and do, take a backseat to the moral argument presented in it," argues Cinematical's James Rocchi. "It's not enough to simply say 'never again' to genocide when it is happening over and over and over right now. The Devil Came on Horseback [site] hurts the heart and stirs the soul, because even as I write this, even as you read this, even while this film is perhaps finding its way to a distributor and wending its way slowly to theaters, the killing in the Sudan will go on, and on, and on until someone in power decides that it must stop or until there is no one left to kill."

Updated through 1/29.

"While the point of view of privileged, Anglo observers on African issues usually raises hackles, such is not the case with The Devil Came on Horseback, a tense account of former Marine Capt Brian Steidle's witnessing of the genocide in Sudan's western province of Darfur," writes Robert Koehler in Variety. "Since Steidle, armed only with his camera, became an unexpected recorder of ethnic cleansing, his work is uniquely suited to the purposes of documakers Anne Sundberg and Ricki Stern."

The Reeler interviews Stern and Sundberg.

Earlier: David D'Arcy, right here.

Update, 1/29: James Rocchi introduces a video interview at Cinematical: "We had the chance to speak with the film's subject, Brian Steidle, and co-director Annie Sundberg. If, after viewing this interview, you're interested in the Web sites Mr Steidle mentions, please go to any of the following: www.savedafur.org; www.sudandivestment.org or www.globalgrassroots.org."

Coverage of the coverage: The Park City Index.

Posted by dwhudson at January 23, 2007 3:18 PM