Lost Boys of Sudan (2003)
Lost Boys of Sudan follows two teenage Sudanese refugees on an extraordinary journey from Africa to America offering a gripping and sobering peek into the myth of the American Dream. In the late 80s Islamic fundamentalists in Sudan waged war on the country s separatists leaving behind over 20,000 male orphans otherwise known as “lost boys.” For those who survived this traumatic ordeal and found their way to refugee camps some were chosen to participate in a resettlement program in America a distant place so presumably full of hope and opportunity that the Sudanese sometimes call it Heaven. But what if a free ticket to “Heaven” turned out to be anything but? Sidestepping conventional voice-over narration in favor of real-time close-quarters poignancy Lost Boys of Sudan focuses on Santino and Peter members of the Dinka tribe during their first life-altering year in the United States. Safe at last from physical danger but a world away from home the boys must grapple with extreme cultural differences as they come to understand both the abundance and alienation of contemporary American life.