New film on Darfur shocks, but who’s watching?
May 2, 2007 (NEW YORK) — Former U.S. Marine Brian Steidle wrote an e-mail from Darfur in 2004 saying if people could see what he saw, foreign troops would intervene within days to stop genocide by Sudanese government-backed militias.
“I’m so naive,” he says nearly three years on in “The Devil Came on Horseback,” a documentary showing at the Tribeca Film Festival. “They’ve seen it now and we’ve still done nothing.”
Steidle spent six months in southern and western Sudan as a monitor attached to an African Union peacekeeping force, taking photographs and reporting on what U.S. President George W. Bush and other world leaders have said is genocide in Darfur.
Sudan denies charges it arms and conspires with Arab militias accused of atrocities in Darfur. The U.N. Security Council is wrangling over moves to send a stepped-up peacekeeping force, which Khartoum has repeatedly blocked.
The title of the documentary refers to the Arabic name for the militias, “Janjaweed,” which means devils on horseback. The film includes many of Steidle’s harrowing photographs, as well as e-mails he sent from Darfur and rare footage by a handful of others who managed to get into the region.
The film-makers also follow Steidle in his efforts to raise awareness after his return from Sudan in early 2005.
“It’s frustrating for anybody to look at the history of genocide and the lack of direct action,” Ricki Stern, one of the two directors of the film, told Reuters in an interview.
“We’re really good at reflecting on it after it happens and saying we should learn from it. We’re just not good yet at figuring out how to intervene and prevent it.”
CELEBRITIES’ INFLUENCE
Rhonda Barad, Eastern director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization, said film was a powerful tool to spread the message about genocide.
“When you talk about one person being a victim, whether it’s genocide or any other hate crime, you can understand it,” Barad said, adding that actors and other celebrities were able to exert a powerful influence on public opinion.
She pointed to actress Mia Farrow who is credited with persuading film director Steven Spielberg, who is involved in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, to put pressure on China over its support for its ally and business partner Sudan on Darfur.
In recent weeks activists have put on a play in New York, published a book co-authored by actor Don Cheadle and launched the “Dining for Darfur” campaign where restaurants raise funds for Darfur.
But as Cheadle said at a panel discussion at Tribeca this week, violence continues in Darfur two years after his genocide film “Hotel Rwanda” sparked vows of “never again.”
“As film-makers and documentarians and authors, you first of all have to mobilize outrage,” Terry George, screenwriter of “Hotel Rwanda,” said at the panel on whether depictions of horrific events can make any difference on the ground.
John Bul Dau, who fled southern Sudan during the two-decade civil war there that preceded the Darfur violence and who was featured in the documentary “God Grew Tired of Us,” said films were powerful but the public needed more information about what action they could take to make a difference.
Cheadle’s book “Not On Our Watch,” co-authored with Darfur campaigner John Prendergast and published this week, lays out strategies for individuals to make their voices heard.
“It’s important to be optimistic,” said Stern. “It has to come from the government and the government will be moved to action by the people.”
But “The Devil Came on Horseback” has yet to attract a distributor. “I think they have been afraid to take on the issue,” she said. “People want to see romantic comedies.”
(Reuters)