True Films 3.0 - Kevin Kelly

God Grew Tired of Us
Twenty years ago 20,000 orphaned and displaced boys began streaming
out of Sudan. They languished with no future in poor camps in neighboring
countries. In 2001, about 3,000 of them were resettled in the US. This
doc is the true story of a few of those boys, almost men, as they leave
their very stark pastoral life (zero electricity or running water) and slip unnoticed
into frantic, crazy urban America. This is not the only documentary
about this dramatic transition. The Lost Boys of Sudan, for instance,
has many fans. But by following the immigrants for a longer period, both
before they arrive and after their shock immersion into American culture,
God Grew Tired of Us is the most rewarding and the deepest. One thing
I learned from this film: no matter how amazing modern amenities are,
people will take them for granted after about 5 minutes. But as these
really remarkable and likeable “boys” show, it’s people and relationships
that really count for wealth.
By Christopher Dillon
Quinn
2006, 89 min.
Available from Amazon
Rent from Netflix
Orphan boys straggle
in to a refugee camp
after a hellish trek across
desert and war zones
(left). A mentor in the US
instructs them in the use
of dishwashing detergent
and the grocery store
(below right). In camp
before they leave, a lost
boy points out on the
map the village of New
York, his future home
(lower left).
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