This HBO documentary follows New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, Harvard University professor Samantha Power, and human rights activist John Prendergast as they accompany African Union peacekeeping forces to mass graves across Darfur and to burgeoning refugee camps where an untold number of Sudanese have escaped the ongoing genocide. Narrated by George Clooney (who also served as executive producer), filmmaker Paul Freedman's Sand and Sorrow features interviews with a diverse number of observers to the crisis—including Sen. Barack Obama and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel—and contains imagery that is both disturbing and tragic as it attempts to explain how the situation in Darfur was able to spiral out of control. Unfortunately, the film never truly asks the hard questions of those who have the power to stop the genocide: the Bush White House (which counts on Sudan's dictators as allies in the War on Terror), the governments of Russia and China (which rely on Sudan for their oil and therefore prop up its leaders), the African Union (which is not involved in military action against the Janjaweed militia group responsible for much of the genocide) or the United Nations (which has been painfully inconsistent in addressing the crisis). Still, as a high-profile documentary that helps call attention to the Darfur tragedy, this is recommended, overall. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)
Sand and Sorrow
(2008) 94 min. DVD: $24.98. HBO Video (avail. from most distributors). Closed captioned. ISBN: 1-41986-509-9. Volume 23, Issue 3
Sand and Sorrow
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