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Darfur Now
Actors: Nimeri Issa, Jason Miller (XXV), Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, Sam Brownback, Asha Abdal Khaleeq
Genres: Documentary

PG 2008 1hr 38min

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 b... more »asic 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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Movie Details

Actors: Nimeri Issa, Jason Miller (XXV), Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, Sam Brownback, Asha Abdal Khaleeq
Genres: Documentary
Sub-Genres: Documentary
Studio: Warner Home Video
Format: DVD - Color,Widescreen - Subtitled
DVD Release Date: 05/27/2008
Original Release Date: 01/01/2007
Theatrical Release Date: 00/00/2007
Release Year: 2008
Run Time: 1hr 38min
Screens: Color,Widescreen
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Total Copies: 1
Members Wishing: 0
MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Languages: English, Arabic
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

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Movie Reviews

Now what?

S. K. Harrell | NC | 05/05/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Effectively educational without being sentimental or sensational, this film tells the story of modern genocide and the western cultural denial of it. Kudos to Cheadle for being a voice for those whose story would otherwise still not have been told."