Darfur Now
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Actor: Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, Asha Abdal Khaleeq, Jason Miller (XXV), Nimeri Issa, Sam BrownbackBrand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Arabic (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-05-27
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of Darfur Now
DVD Review: must-see documentary
Summary: 4 Stars
Since 2003, the people of Darfur - mainly tribal blacks - have been undergoing a systematic genocide at the hands of the largely Arab-run government of Sudan (Darfur being a western region of that nation). The UN has estimated that, as of 2007, 200,000 residents of Darfur have been slaughtered and 2.5 million more displaced from their homes and forced to flee to refugee camps both inside Darfur and in neighboring countries.
The must-see documentary "Darfur Now" focuses on six specific individuals who have chosen to make a difference in the world. Adam Sterling, co-founder of Sudan Divestment Task Force, is a young activist from Los Angeles who spends his time not only trying to raise public awareness of the atrocities taking place in that part of the world but also lobbying the California legislature and governor to get oil companies to stop funding the Sudanese government. Luis Moreno-Ocampo is a prosecutor for the International Criminal Court whose job it is to build a case against the Sudanese government officials in order to bring them to justice in The Hague. Ahmed Mohammad Abakar is the Chief Sheikh of the Hamadea Displaced Persons Camp. Don Cheadle ("Hotel Rwanda") is, of course, a well-known movie star and author who has met with a number of world leaders on the issue. Pablo Recalde is a humanitarian who delivers food to people in the refugee camps, often at great personal risk to himself and those who work with him. And, finally, Hejewa Adam is a rebel for the Sudan Liberation Movement, a group dedicated to fighting back against the killers.
All six share a common belief that what happens to one person on this planet happens to us all - and it is this philosophy that motivates them to take an active role in doing everything they can to try and change that world.
Survivors of the raids recount in horrific detail the inconceivable suffering they have endured at the hands of the Janjaweed, an Arab militia unit funded by the government to carry out rapes, pillaging and murder on a massive scale (though the government, of course, denies it). We also spend time with the rebel forces - motley bands of dedicated but poorly armed and trained men and women who have taken to the hills to defend their lives and homeland, while they wait patiently and, in many cases, in vain for the "white people" to come and help them.
Writer/director Theodore Braun effectively cuts back and forth between his various subjects and, in so doing, brings an emotionally compelling dramatic arc to the film.
More than anything else, "Darfur Now" drives home how monumentally difficult and frustrating it can be to get recalcitrant people to put aside their daily concerns or foot-dragging governments their political expediency in order to help put an end to any humanitarian crisis, not just the one in Darfur. But, at the same time, the film points out that people of goodwill, particularly if they are large enough in number, can have an enormous impact if they are simply willing to step up to the challenge.
Filled with both hope and heartbreak, "Darfur Now" is a fit companion piece to "The Devil Came on Horseback," an equally compelling documentary on the same topic. Together, these two fine films help to bring Darfur's plight to the world-at-large.
The theme of both films is, perhaps, best summed up by the actor George Clooney who, in a press conference on the issue, asks, "One day this will end, and the question will be, where did the nations of these United Nations stand?" Where indeed!
Description of Darfur Now
Making a difference. Now. This acclaimed, inspiring documentary follows six people who are striving to end the suffering in Sudan?s war-ravaged Darfur. The six ? an American activist, an international prosecutor, a Sudanese rebel, a sheikh, a leader of the World Food Program, and Don Cheadle, who traverses the globe with fellow actor George Clooney to pressure world leaders ? demonstrate the power of one individual to make extraordinary changes. Be an eyewitness to the tragedy and the triumphs, the fear and the pride. Meet the refugees, determined to return to their beloved homeland. And discover how you too can make a difference.Hard to watch but impossible to turn away from, Darfur Now aims to educate, illuminate, and, most of all, motivate viewers to somehow get involved in bringing the calamitous situation in that African land to an end. Some basic facts are provided at the beginning of writer-director Theodore Braun?s 98-minute documentary: Located in western Sudan, Darfur, a region about the size of France with a population of six million, has been in a state of severe crisis since 2003, when non-Arabs rebelled against the Muslim government. Working in tandem with the dread Janjaweed (literally "devils on horseback") to wipe out the rebels, military forces have enacted a relentless and systematic genocide that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, with millions more displaced. The film then focuses on six individuals and their roles in the conflict. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, works to collect evidence to use against the Sudanese authorities; Adam Sterling, a young American enraged by the lack of world response to the crisis, campaigns in California to pass legislation to force companies with interests in Sudan to divest; Pablo Recalde of the West Darfur World Food Program strives to provide food and save lives; Ahmed Mohammad Abakar, chief sheikh at a camp for displaced persons in Darfur, tries to rally his people; Hejewa Adam, a female rebel, trains to fight the Janjaweed; and actor-author Don Cheadle uses his celebrity (as well as George Clooney's) to raise public and official awareness of the situation. (The Sudanese government is represented by its U.N. ambassador, an unctuous individual who complains that the West has "over-dramatized" the situation.) These efforts are not without their successes: Sterling gets his bill passed, Recalde's food gets distributed, and Ocampo brings charges against two Sudanese officials (a largely hollow gesture, as the government refuses to surrender them). Beautifully filmed and edited, with multiple stories taking place on several fronts, Darfur Now plays more like a fictional drama than a documentary. But it's all too real, of course. "We must be patient until the white people come," says one of the rebels. It?s a poignant, slightly pathetic statement, but unless that happens, this story will have no happy ending. --Sam Graham
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