We Expect Much and Suffer Little

It goes without saying that Americans are fortunate to live in the United States. However, many fail to realize how good they have it. Myself included. It only took a couple of Sudanese refugees to make me see how blessed and blind Americans can be. 

Quick Review of Events:

God Grew Tired of Us documents the journey the Sudanese Lost Boys who escaped a violent civil war. Panther Bior, John Bul Dau, and Daniel Abol Pach are the main subjects who travel to Syracuse and Pittsburgh as refugees. There, they encounter a plethora of first world luxuries and learn to adapt to this new way of living. Through it all, the boys never lose sight of their homeland and continuously work to send aid to those who still suffer from the effects of the civil war.

A Little Context:

The film was released in 2007. It was directed by Chirstopher Dillon Quinn and Tommy Walker. Of course, the Sudanese boys featured in the film portrayed themselves, but there was also some narration by Nicole Kidman. Over the year in which the film was released, it won a total of six awards including two from the Sundance Film Festival.

So What is It?

According to IMBd, God Grew Tired of Us is classified as a documentary. And rightfully so. Instead of using characters, we see actual events of real people. All the featured Lost Boys are filmed Syracuse and Pittsburgh, the actual cities in which they lived. 

More specifically, this is a naturalist adversarial documentary since it strives for a glocal (global /local) community through a fieldwork type of documentation. While the Sudanese boys learn how to be an American, they bring a part of Sudan with them. They speak both Dinka and English and keep some of their community based traditions alive. And while they adapt to the American way of life, they share their story with other Americans, shrinking oceans and borders.  

Daniel teaches American girls what a "Sudan" is.

What I Expected:

Based on the given criteria of a documentary, I expected God Grew Tired of Us to cover a topic of which I know nothing about. Or I should have my preexisting ideas about a topic completely flipped. Since this film is in the adversarial mode, I expected the later. I also wanted this film to inspire me. It should make me want to get out of my seat and make change according to the topic addressed. Most documentaries I have seen had this effect on me, so God Grew Tired of Us should not be any different.

What I Thought:

All in all, God Grew Tired of Us moved me. It gave me a desire to reexamine the cultural values in the U.S. Many of the modern commodities we take for granted as Americans were experienced by the Lost Boys for the first time. In fact, they didn't just experience it, they had to be educated on how almost everything worked in their own apartment. 

The Lost Boys learn that dish soap will not turn their dishes green.

But even more, the boys transferred from a community centered culture to an individualistic culture. For instance, you can not go up to a stranger and expect help in the U.S. the way in which the Sudanese boys were accustomed. America was career driven rather than focused on the betterment of the community. There where times when the Lost Boys were working from dawn til dusk and lamented that they could hardly see their friends as much as they liked.

Even so, the most inspiring point of the film came from the need for all the featured Lost Boys to send help back home. John Bul Dau expressed his want to constantly send money to help his family and fellow Lost Boys. In the end, he became a major component for change, leading organizations looking to better the situation in Sudan. 

A Final Word:

After viewing God Grew Tired of Us, I could not stop thinking about how much Americans take for granted in our everyday lives. However, we will never be able to truly appreciate these luxuries because of how expected they are in our culture. 

If anything, this film inspired me to do good for the less fortunate and to learn more about other countries in this world. Being an American can be culturally blinding. We need to go beyond our borders to experience the world and gain more knowledge about our contrasting cultures. And aiding those in need along the way would not be too bad either.