Darfur Diaries June 10, 2007

I have just seen a tremendously compelling documentary entitled Darfur Diaries: Message from Home. I highly recommend it.

The film’s Netflix sleeve states that Darfur Diaries: Memories from Home was “chosen by Amnesty International as an educational tool for its members.” It’s no wonder: this is a powerful, up-close-and-personal work that makes the genocide in Darfur feel much more immediate than, say, a snippet in the newspaper. It is not to be missed.

The film’s website describes the production:

In mid October 2004, [filmmakers Aisha Bain, Adam Shapiro and Jen Marlowe] traveled to the refugee camps in eastern Chad and the Zaghawa tribal region of northern Darfur. They snuck across the porous border between Chad and Sudan and remained behind rebel lines. They met refugees living in camps in the harshest of conditions, who built their own schools to educate their children although they had no resources whatsoever. They walked through the charred and broken remains of destroyed villages, trying to imagine the vibrant life that once was there. They were welcomed hospitably by displaced people as they tried to find a way to survive in Darfur. They spoke to leaders of the rebel movement resisting the Sudanese government. They conducted interviews with dozens of men, women and children whose strength and resilience in the face of horror was inspiring. They left Darfur and eastern Chad after almost a month with over 45 hours of footage and incredible stories, images and testimonies.

Among the scenes I was most affected by were those involving anti-goverment factions of Sudan Liberation Army (S.L.A.). In one camp, we meet dozens of orphaned adolescent boys training to be rebel soldiers–as one man explains, “they stay because they have nowhere to go.” Later, the crew encounters an S.L.A. soldier and records a message to his family; by the end of the film, they find his family in one of the camps are able to show them his message.

For more information about the film, the companion book Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival, and the filmmakers’ education project, please visit http://www.darfurdiaries.org