BuzzFlash Reviews

BUZZFLASH REVIEWS

"Brutal, urgent, devastating � the documentary �The Devil Came on Horseback� demands to be seen as soon as possible and by as many viewers as possible. An up-close, acutely painful call to action, the movie pivots on a young American, a former Marine captain named Brian Steidle, who for six months beginning in the fall of 2004 worked for the African Union as an unarmed monitor in Darfur. What he saw in Darfur was unspeakable. And then he returned home, his arms, heart and head filled with the images of the dead."

-- The New York Times

Why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars on a civil war in Iraq, but the Bush Administration has only given lip service to trying to end the genocide in Darfur and the brutal suppression of democracy in Burma?

"The Devil Came on Horseback" documents through the grim photographs and personal story of ex-Marine Captain Brian Steidle the murderous rampages conducted in Darfur, with the participation and support of the Sudanese government.

Steidle comes from a military family and went to Sudan not knowing the horror that awaited him. He returns to the U.S. with piles of photographs that detail the genocide, only to be told by the Bush Administration not to circulate the pictures. Yes, that's right, Bush is obsessed with his "divine" mission of creating chaos in Iraq and doesn't want to be distracted by people kicking up a fuss about Darfur -- especially when an ex-Marine Captain can provide graphic evidence of how a people are being systematically decimated.

Throughout the documentary, Steidle remains both frustrated and steadfast in his commitment to save the people of Darfur. The Bush Administration apparently sees Darfur as a complicated political "distraction" from its wars for oil in the Middle East -- and doesn't want to anger China, which, ironically, has a large investment in extracting oil from the and supports the government in Khartoum.

Steidle is an American hero. Meanwhile, the slaughter continues in Darfur, as does a deteriorating public health situation.

Brian makes you proud of the United States. The Bush Administration makes you ashamed.

From an online reviewer:

"I just saw this movie at Webster University in St. Louis and can't believe it is not playing in mainstream theaters across the country. It is a well crafted documentary that deserves wide spread availability.

This film is Brian's photographs, video, audio recordings, and emails from his time in Sudan as an investigator in the cease fire agreement and his return visit to Chad. The images in the film are nothing short of shocking, graphic and deeply disturbing on a level I never knew existed. If you think you "know" about the situation in Darfur, you haven't seen anything until you sit through 85 minutes of systematic genocide, rape, torture, and mutilation.

This film is Brian's personal account of the atrocities of the Sudanese government (whom is Arab), and its calculated genocide toward the black Africans within its borders. It even goes after those that have fled to neighboring Chad.

But it isn't just Brian showing you a picture and saying 'See, bad things are happening here.' He explains the recent historical highlights of Sudan and its government, the presence of China and its oil pipeline, the Russian and Chinese supplied weapons, the Janjaweed's relation to the government of Sudan, the Sudan Liberation Movement, and other players. You get to see the reaction he received upon his return to America: how the State Department asked him NOT to show his pictures (!); how the Sudanese government sent out people to speak against him; how the New York Times helped give him a voice and get his pictures out to the public.

Excellent production, editing and camera work. I would have liked to have heard some of the politicians speak on the topic. And possibly some more on the links between Sudan, China, Russia and Saudi Arabia, and how they are all in bed with each other. It was briefly discussed how China is heavily dependent on Sudan's oil, but does not explain the fact that they need massive amounts of oil in order to supply the U.S. (among other countries) with goods. Though, I guess that this could all be summed up in a documentary of equal length by itself.

The situation in Darfur, Sudan is a complex and dirty situation that can go on for decades. I didn't expect an 85 minute documentary to cover it all, but it does an excellent job of getting the word out that the Sudanese government is committing widespread genocide."

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