Analysis of The Documentary Film God Grew Tired of Us

In the documentary “God Grew Tired of Us” directed by Christopher Dillon Quinn, the audience is presented with the story of three young men, often called “Lost Boys of Sudan,” and their transition from their life in Kenya to life in the United States. Through the use of visual juxtaposition, interviews and narrative from the boys, and humor in the film, the documentary opens up our eyes to the cultural shock through the lenses of the few lost boys who relocated in America.

The documentary starts off showing the natural landscape in Africa along with how the people live about their daily lives in Sudan. The audience is met with images of the Sudanese people, their houses, and their sources of food. The topic shifts to the background event that surrounds the lost boys, camera shots of war, large groups of children, and the harsh environment of the Saharan desert are shown. Through closeups, we can see the despair among the children as they have to abruptly live in a much different way of life. The audience has a sense of horror through these shots, and the film continues to build that by including closeups of the lost boys, their facial expressions, their body conditions, and how many of them that were the same way. Later on, the tone lightens as we see images of the refugees smiling, and laughing with each other before they leave for America. Images of the boys looking around being curious and being surprised by the abrupt change in environment, as well as experiencing cultural shock for the first time sparks humor within the audience. We can obviously see the shock that the boys experience without words while they learn how to interact with the objects in a more urban lifestyle and how they look at other people in public areas.

The interviews later in the film show the audience things that aren’t picked up so easily through images alone, and that is the emotional reaction of the lost boys to the change. An example would be the interview of the boys while they were still traveling to America. Through the narrative of one of the lost boys, the audience gains a sense of sympathy with him on how different and bad airline food can taste compared to home cooked foods. Furthermore, we learn about the difference in cultures in North America compared to in Africa through John Bul’s narrative on celebrating Christmas. The audience also hears John’s questions about how Christmas is celebrated in America and we feel amused towards those questions as they sound so simple and basic that anyone can answer, yet we cannot answer them ourselves.

Furthermore, the humor that is present throughout the film also connects to the boys’ cultural shock. An example would be when John and Andrew were walking outside and saw the children ice skating. To most of us, ice skating doesn’t seem to be such a scary thing to do. However, the lost boys, some of which probably fought lions before, are afraid to ice skate and look like a wounded soldier in a war while skating. Additionally, Daniel spoke about how in a conversation with the boys back in the Kakuma camp, they asked if there was a parliament in the US, and Daniel smiled saying that there was no time here for that. This hints a sense of loneliness that is already a part of the American culture that for the audience isn’t so obvious. Thus, we have a broader understanding of how it must be for the boys to live on the other side of the world with not even their parents. The boys in America have to work very hard to build their lives, while carrying the burden of also supporting the boys back in Kenya, and being alone does not help their situation at all.

John, Panther, and Daniel came a long way from where they were before coming to America. John has reunited with part of his family and continues to support them, while founding a non-profit organization to help more of those like him. Daniel has been focusing on getting an education as well as being one of those who helped make the documentary. And Panther, who has gone back to Africa to help more of those in need.