Spring Break
Documentary on Darfur educates, urges activism
Issue date: 11/15/07
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For those of us sitting on the sidelines, the upcoming film Darfur Now rouses awareness and urges activism. For those frustrated with the lack of Darfur genocide education, the film may come as something of a relief - it is a film that can educate conveniently, as it meets the people in theaters, where they can comfortably snack on Jujubes and soda. The documentary, produced by Warner Independent Pictures, written and directed by Ted Braun, illustrates the lives of six people, moved by hope or desperation, to end the genocide in Darfur.
Portraying individuals in the United States who are involved in the plight of Darfur's citizens, the film introduces us to Adam Sterling and reacquaints us with the already-familiar actors Don Cheadle, of Hotel Rwanda, and George Clooney. The film walks us though the activism of Sterling, a student in Los Angeles, who uses his own funds and dedicates immense time to doing what he can - creating flyers, passing them out and lobbying for the divestment of California from the genocide. He claims that Darfur is like the Holocaust all over again and accuses humanity of "falling flat on our faces," in our failure to prevent or help end an atrocity.
What Sterling shares with the American celebrities is hopefulness, though the scale and publicity of their activism is quite different. The documentary introduces Cheadle after his own trip to Darfur, in the process of writing the book Not in Our Time about how his experience moved him, and how we can help. When joined by George Clooney, the two take a trip to China and Egypt where they meet with delegates to discuss the problem in Darfur and to express their hope that the respective countries will help.
Some of the most informative segments of the film follow the organization of evidence, assembled to indict individuals of Sudan who are responsible for war crimes and atrocities. The documentary presents Louis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor of the Hague's International Criminal Court, and his discussions with investigators about the evidence of said atrocities. His commitment to law provides the hope he has in bringing the
Portraying individuals in the United States who are involved in the plight of Darfur's citizens, the film introduces us to Adam Sterling and reacquaints us with the already-familiar actors Don Cheadle, of Hotel Rwanda, and George Clooney. The film walks us though the activism of Sterling, a student in Los Angeles, who uses his own funds and dedicates immense time to doing what he can - creating flyers, passing them out and lobbying for the divestment of California from the genocide. He claims that Darfur is like the Holocaust all over again and accuses humanity of "falling flat on our faces," in our failure to prevent or help end an atrocity.
What Sterling shares with the American celebrities is hopefulness, though the scale and publicity of their activism is quite different. The documentary introduces Cheadle after his own trip to Darfur, in the process of writing the book Not in Our Time about how his experience moved him, and how we can help. When joined by George Clooney, the two take a trip to China and Egypt where they meet with delegates to discuss the problem in Darfur and to express their hope that the respective countries will help.
Some of the most informative segments of the film follow the organization of evidence, assembled to indict individuals of Sudan who are responsible for war crimes and atrocities. The documentary presents Louis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor of the Hague's International Criminal Court, and his discussions with investigators about the evidence of said atrocities. His commitment to law provides the hope he has in bringing the
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