Dir: Theodore (Ted) Braun. US, 2007, 99 minutes

Some may find this documentary on the tragedy currently unfolding in the Darfur region of Sudan a bit too slickly produced for its own good, but all in all, it's a solid, exciting, informative, and occasionally moving portrait of that troubled, desperate area and its mightily abused inhabitants. Warner Independent Pictures is releasing the film theatrically in the US, and it remains to be seen whether paying audiences will turn out in sufficient numbers to warrant this gamble on a subject that some may feel has already been over-exposed.

For example, The Devil Came on Horseback, which is in some ways a superior, more emotionally involving film, should be heading to theatrical screens at around the same time. In any case, Darfur Now should do very well on DVD, owing especially to its wealth of new, up-to-date details, and should definitely be given a look by buyers for television worldwide.


The principal question to pose a film like this is whether it tells us anything new or makes us see things we thought we knew in a different light.

For Darfur Now, the answer is a qualified yes. Though there is much here that will be familiar to those who actually care about international affairs - after all, the film's core audience - film-maker Braun has clevely arranged his narrative around six central, often charismatic figures who usefully provide us multiple perspectives on the same gruesome situation.

One is a man who has dedicated his life to getting a bill passed in California that will force the state to terminate all its investment in Sudan.

Another is actor Don Cheadle who, along with his glamourous sidekick George Clooney, visits world leaders to encourage them to act to stop the genocide committed by Arab gangs, probably abetted by the State, against the black population.

A third is Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at The Hague, and his insights into the nature of evidence-gathering in crimes against humanity are especially informative.

Another participant who provides what feels like a novel point of view is a Darfurian mother who, after her three-month-old son was beaten to death - while on her back - by Janjaweed marauders, joined the rebel forces as a committed soldier.

The final two figures are an Ecuadorian man who runs the World Food Program in Darfur and who tries to keep the impoverished, displaced inhabitants from starving, and the chief sheikh of a representative refugee camp who tries to adjudicate conflicting claims fairly.

The film nimbly switches from story to story and figure to figure though the Hollywood music, full of pounding drums, sometimes becomes a bit much during anything that can be remotely construed as an action scene.

However, Braun also knows when to turn down the volume during more contemplative moments. He also cleverly intercuts each segment's narrative arc faster and faster as they move toward their respective but interconnected climaxes, but in a manner that many will find forced.

Finally, Braun doesn't stint on the maps and charts and explanatory titles, and does an excellent job keeping all the different stories and characters straight in the viewer's mind.

Production: Crescendo, Mandalay Independent Pictures

US Distribution: Warner Independent Pictures

Producers: Cathy Schulman, Don Cheadle, Mark Jonathan Harris

Screenplay: Theodore (Ted) Braun

Cast: Adam Sterling, Ahmed Mohammed Abakar, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Don Cheadle, Pablo Recalde, Hejewa Adam