Ukraine in Arabic | The story of four Sudanese refugees was shown in USA
Ukraine in Arabic/ Starring Reese Witherspoon as a blunt-speaking job counselor, the movie, opening Friday in the Twin Cities, illuminates the experience of the 20,000-plus Sudanese “lost boys” (and girls) who were orphaned or displaced as refugees during the 1980s through the early 2000s due to civil war.
The Good Lie film is based on the true story of the 'Lost Boys of Sudan', tens of thousands of young Sudanese who fled civil war in their country. More than 3,000 of them were given the opportunity to emigrate to the United States in the early 21st century, in what has been described as the largest resettlement of its kind in American history. The refugees are all played by actors of Sudanese origin, some of whom were child soldiers, like Ger Duany.
Sudanese immigrant Kuoth Wiel remembers the first time, at age 8, she saw downtown Minneapolis looming in front of her on Interstate 35.
“It was a shocking world, so different from anything I’d known, so many tall buildings,” she said. “The Wells Fargo building was so bright it looked like it was burning, on fire, in the sunlight. Everything was bigger. But I got used to it.”
It’s been quite a journey for Wiel, now 25, who recently watched a standing ovation at the Toronto International Film Festival for “The Good Lie,” the movie in which she makes her acting debut.
“To see over 250,000 people living in one space and dealing with very little, it’s extraordinary and I am glad that we made a film that can hopefully raise awareness about what’s going on in the refugee camps.”
“The suffering in the area is still there. And that’s why it is important for this movie to be shared with everybody around the world so that people know exactly what’s going on,” says the actor.
Described as "a touching, generous-hearted movie that treats the immigrant experience with grace", ‘The Good Lie’ has received mostly positive reviews with one critic expressing relief that it’s not a film "about benevolent Americans, but rather the harrowing journey of four (Sudanese) orphans".
“The Good Lie” is now on global release.
