Film Reviews Sudan

Just Peace

Andy Jones/Sudan / 2005/ 24 min.

Just Peace set the scene quickly; over 2 million people had been killed in the conflicts in Sudan, around 6 million displaced, and when the film was made (2004-2005) the government of the time had just signed a protocol for peace. As a result the film focuses on the hopes that children had for peace in Sudan in the future. I suspect adults may not have been as positive about the new protocol, or the government for that matter.

After 20 years of civil war in Sudan, it was evident that it was the children of Sudan who had suffered the most, very many had been into an adult world, and not a particularly pleasant one at a very young age. The first interviewee was Michael who had been recruited as a child soldier after his parents had been killed, and despite saying the work was hard, he also commented that at least he had food there. Which was a common thread in the other stories as well, there was very little, if any support for refugees, and internally displaced people and food was a prime example. Michael fished in order to support himself, he played with friends to take his mind off his past, and he was going to school, an education meant he could help others.

being unable to afford one.

She mentioned wanting to go home and not feeling home despite having relocated for some time, she was awaiting the return of her father who had gone back home, to see if the fighting there had stopped and it was safe to return.

The third and final interviewee was a girl who was forcefully relocated to a village Sudan under government protection.

She talked about the day to day life she experienced including how she used to search for water at night, because of safety reasons; the constant lack of food, and subsistence farming. She also mentioned her lack of education because there was no school, and she had to work to support her family.

I think in terms of design making an impact in their lives, it could be anything from a toy, to an educational kit, it could be something to allow access to clean water or improve existing farming practices, herding or fishing techniques. I think what can be seen from this film is that many of this children are really struggling with surviving and don’t have the luxury of an education, toys or other things that really are pivotal to defining childhood over here.

Sulwa was a young girl who fled the conflict in Sudan with her family; she also talked about wanting an education and, a future as a result, but, Jo Szczepanska

Closed District

Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd / Belgium / 2004 / 55 min.

The film Closed District documents Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd’s, immersion in southern Sudan throughout 1996. As an outsider he documents everything. He captures particularly well, the exhaustion of the people living in Mankien who have been in the centre of a conflict between the Arab Muslims and the Black Christians for over 30 years.

The director follows many of the locals, most of which have a variety of tasks to perform in order to just barely survive.

They comment on the lack of food and medicine, as well as sick livestock and the impact it has on the population.

He participates in some paramilitary training, interviewing the officer in charge who asks him, as a film maker to help stop the injustice and death in Sudan. Quite poignantly, the leader of the paramilitary tells Vandeweerd that the Government is unable to treat its people with equality.

To conclude the director comments about the situation in Mankien, where after he left in 1996 the government militia massacred many of the villagers. He strongly questions who is benefiting from the misery and conflict in the region, bringing to the forefront the vested interests of Western oil companies.

The people of Mankien have a very difficult life and I think safety is at the centre of the film. Design solutions are difficult here because the town itself because of the exhaustion felt and the constant fighting, it is difficult to see if the village had a future at all. Potentially something could be designed to improve the safety of the most vulnerable, the elderly or disabled, women and children.

In contrast to what is seen at the barracks, which is mostly men and guns, Vandeweerd also shows the role of women and children, particularly women who are widowed or have no children and how they struggle to find a place for themselves within their community. He shows how despite all the conflict, rituals are still strong in the village, when a cow is sacrificed after people in the village get sick from drinking milk.

Jo Szczepanska

living with refugees

Claudio von Planta and Simon Atkins/UK / 2004 / 50 min.

This film was a great example of participatory observation or action research as narrator/ journalist Sorious Samura, becomes a refugee and not only travels with a family for 4 weeks to a refugee camp but lives there as they do. The story begins with Adam, who has 2 wives and 8 children and makes the difficult decision to leave Sudan, because he can’t go home and if his family stays where they are, they will all die. Part of this initial desision is the realisation that he cannot take everyone with him so he leaves behing one of his wives and her children.

The trek to the camp is difficult, and they spent up to 15 hours a day walking. Adam mentions that “when they get to sleep, all [they] have is nightmares”. After 3 days the family along with Sumara reach the camp and the reality of it doesn’t come close to what should be expected under the Refugee Convention, or to what Adam and his family expected. Instead of receiving assistance, and their basic human rights, they felt they were being treated like animals.

There was a 1-2 week wait to get registered as a refugee, which more often than not amounted to a 4 week wait and until an individual was registered formally as a refugee. This meant that the refugee convention did not apply to them as a ‘spontaneous arrival’, leaving them without food, water, shelter or medicine for up to a month.

In Adams case the officials didn’t believe he was a genuine refugee and without the intervention of Sumara his future was uncertain to say the least. Bureaucracy was at the core of the problems but there are many solutions that could help the spontaneous arrivals if only they had access to them.

Issues that were brought up throughout this film were on a very practical level, surrounding the following issues: • Rain and dampness, inadequate shelter • Lack of basic sanitation • Temporary shelter construction, tools to make better shelters • Rotten food, create better food storage • Lack of flooring • Danger associated with collecting firewood, create alternative stoves • Inability to find family members, improve Red Cross tracing • Identification of a refugee/ how do you prove you are one?

Jo Szczepanska