Pátria Proibida

This is a documentary that is of a rare type, yet one that i wish there was more of. It is rare because it is real. There isn't a script, no plot. The camera follows the characters and not the other way around.

This movie is about a group of Sudanese refugees granted asylum into the USA after wandering around Africa for years having been displaced by the wars in the 1990s that affected Sudan.

I am sure some will say that we have all seen this before.. people in dire situations, starving people, famine.. Yes we have, but what we haven't seen enough about is how these people, the few given a chance at a normal life deal with the adjustment and their new home.

This is a movie about Sudanese refugees yet it unmistakably makes you wonder about yourself and your own country. Through their eyes we are given a different perspective about us, perhaps a perspective that we so cannot see from our own point of view. The movie highlights the undeniable workaholic and isolationist American culture that is remotely not as welcoming as we would all like to claim. As the movie progresses we see their lives change, them trying to fit in, struggling with social norms (put your thinking caps on for this part of the movie) and generally trying to make it in the big capitalist state that we are. It isn't easy, but is it worth it? What these people have to give up makes you think of what we have given up and not even realize it or deem it important, yet for someone who comes from a different culture, the fragmented society is not a culture shock, it's lack of culture.

It doesn't matter if one agrees with their views on our weird lifestyle. What matters is that this is a beautiful documentary about struggle, both in the old life and the new. It is amazing to me, yet not foreign, how they are eventually forced to drop out of school and work menial jobs to make ends meet and try to help any people back home they can. Then comes the realization that a man can only do so much..

As time goes we see them make changes (generally improve) to their lives, get involved with activities, mend with the local culture. As we see the changes taking place it is hard not to understand the people and that is one of the high points of this movie. The information isn't forced to you but you warm up to is by listening what the boys have to say about their experiences and their lives.

A highly recommended real life documentary that is worth checking out, particularly if you like something different. There are also a few lines (can't miss them) that will make you chuckle because they are the same things that every American says often.

Recently saw a screening of the film. Afterward had the pleasure of meeting and listening to John Dau speak. This film should be shown on TV as well, to enlighten, educate the UNITED STATES, because we can be very ignorant about our knowledge of the outside world.

These young boys and men, proved to be so endearing, very bright, hard working people. When one of them commented about someone asking about them living in the forest...he was lovely with his response. For him it was just common sense "No you can not live in the forest, it's impossible" It made me think of what Oprah is currently doing with her school for girls. These young people want the education for the em-betterment of their families and countries. These Lost Boys came here and even though they're putting Ritz Crackers in a coffeemaker w/milk, somehow managed to receive their education (Masters, B.A.).

We as a nation, need to really take a serious look at ourselves...and perhaps this film.

BRAVO!

There is only one perfect Jesus Christ, and he does not hold office or lead a country. Every other human being (or president) and every system devised by man is flawed. The ceaseless journey of my life began before I even existed. I am also a LOST BOY OF SUDAN AND Sometimes I wonder whether the love of one's family is real or imaginary, or a lesson of reason, or an instinct of nature? I still look back with pleasure on the first episodes of my life together with my family, though that pleasure has been for the most part intermingled with sorrow. Sadly I wasn't lucky enough to grow up in my country to design my future life together with my parents, siblings, relatives and friends. In 1987, at age of five, the war separated me from my family. I was miserably unhappy. But now that I am mature enough to comprehend the upward and downward of the this confusing world, it has become obvious to me that happiness and unhappiness must cancel out each other. And if I were unhappy now, I would necessarily be happy later on.

I Encourage you to go see it and you will be amaze how much you will learn about our lives!!! Good luck!

"The Lost Boys of Sudan": Documentary. Imagine you're a four year old boy. Countrymen, who look just like your very own Father, come into your town, and kill all the men and older boys, rape and kill all the women and girls, including your Mother and Sisters. You were in the fields, tending the goats, and saw it all. Now you – a four year old boy – are being hunted by these countrymen. You gather with other little boys, and set out barefoot, running and walking the wild countryside – hiding during the day, hiking only under the cover of night – when the lions come out – who stalk and kill many of your group. Imagine you somehow survive, and find yourself living in refugee camps run by Americans. You are there the next ten years. This is your home. The other boys, now men, are your Family. One day, YOU are offered a free trip to America – to better your life, make money, and send some of it home to help your surviving family and friends. Take the offer! You grew up in a mud hut on the Sudanese Plain, and suddenly you are welcomed/dropped into America. "Toto, we're not in Sudan anymore." This is a frightening, funny, interesting, frustrating, VERY sad look at Life with Nothing but Struggle. Their daily observations and realizations about this culture make you wince. Often.

Just saw this at Sundance. Truly, an excellent, humane look at immigrant/refugee assimilation in the United States. The parts where the boys discover electricity, cars, and supermarkets are funny as hell. The parts where the boys question whether people are better off in the U.S. or Africa are poignant and revealing of our luxuries and ignorance.

The film briefly covers the history of the mid-80s civil war in Sudan, and the subsequent exodus of young Sudanese men and boys into a refuge camp in Kenya. It focuses on the first four years of the lucky few "lost boys" who are offered refuge in the U.S.

By far, my favorite part, is the film's effective portrayal of these young men as articulate, intelligent beings. It's too easy for us to create a stereotypical picture of Africa in our minds. This film blows all of my previous conceptions away.

Immediately after seeing this at Sundance, someone wrote a $25,000 check to help one of the main character's projects. If I had the money, I would have done the same.