The Devil Came on Horseback (2007) User Reviews (14)

Compelling film on Genocide in Darfur

[JustCuriosity · 9/10 · 13 March 2007]

This amazing film screened at the SXSW Film Festival and was extremely well-received. The film is a remarkable picture of the tragedy that is unfolding in Africa and being ignored by both America and the rest of the world. The story is told thru the eyes of former American Marine Captain, turned international monitor, Brian Steidle. Steidle is the reluctant hero drawn into the events of Darfur almost by accident. As his eyes are opened to the ugliness of what is happening in Darfur he opens our eyes as well.

The photographs are amazing and nightmarish. The tragic message is that we haven't learned from the Holocaust and more recently Rwanda is also clear and deeply haunting. This film is significantly better made than the somewhat amateurish film, although still interesting and informative, Darfur Diaries. It is filmed with both heart and skill. Steidle, who has also written a book by the same name, is the perfect guide to draw us out of our apathy and into the heart of this deep unfolding tragedy. His palpable feeling of anger and helplessness as he watches genocide is palpable and heart-breaking.

The film is also an indictment of the failure of the US and other Western governments to act to address this humanitarian crisis that has been unfolding now for 4 years. The U.S. has called these events "genocide," but has done nothing substantive to provide for a UN peacekeeping force to address the tragedy.

This is the type of film that must be widely scene if Americans are to awaken from their slumber and respond to this horror of murder, rape, massacre, slaughter, and dislocation that is being committed by Sudan's government against its own citizens. Perhaps there is still a chance to save even more people from dying if Americans are willing to pay attention to what is happening. I hope that Americans take the time to see this important and compelling film about the greatest tragedy of our times.

There is no gray area. It is either genocide or not.

[lastliberal · 9/10 · 5 January 2009]

Those who have any doubt about the position that oil plays in World politics need only to see this film to know why the Bush administration has done nothing in Darfur.

The atrocities are graphically displayed here in a region that is devastated by the Sudan government with the aid of the Janjaweed militia to keep the oil money from China coming in.

Burned bodies are just part of the evidence presented by a former Marine Captain, who is now part of the UN peacekeeping mission. The cries of the people are heartrending. The fact that IDP camps are attacked is further evidence of genocide.

A handful of Israelis are killed by rockets and it is all over the news. Over 400,000 Darfurians have been killed and over 2.5 million driven from their homes. When is the last you have heard anything in the media? This excellent film shows the stain on our souls from allowing it to continue.

Consciousness-raising documentary

[Buddy-51 · 8/10 · 28 February 2009]

In the early 2000s, a cease fire was declared between two warring factions in Sudan (the Arab Muslims in the north and the non-Arabs in the south), effectively bringing to an end the bloody civil war that had ripped that nation apart for over two decades (though the peace treaty itself was not officially signed until 2005). Former Marine Captain Brian Steidle went to the country as part of a team sponsored by the African Union to help monitor the cease fire. However, while he was there, a new conflict broke out, this time in Darfur, the far western region of Sudan that is largely inhabited by tribal blacks. As soon as the cease fire was in place, militias and death squads, backed by the Arab government in Khartoum, began a well-coordinated and systematic campaign to brutally terrorize and slaughter the inhabitants of that region. Whole villages and refugee camps were wiped out, their people mowed down, burned alive or left to die of starvation, all for being black. Steidle - sans weapons and armed only with a still camera, a video recorder, a great deal of personal courage and a spirit of righteous indignation - spent much of that time traveling through the countryside compiling a photographic account of the atrocities. "The Devil Came on Horseback" is that account.

With this work, filmmakers Ricki Stren and Anne Sundberg clearly hope to rouse the outside world from its lethargy regarding this tragedy. Steidle's heartbreaking and compelling eyewitness testimony to Man's-inhumanity-to-Man is placed in direct opposition to the lip-service platitudes and hollow assurances he receives from the fiddle-playing leaders in the Bush administration and the U.N. when he confronts them with the evidence. First, there is the resistance on the part of the world to declare that what was happening in Darfur is a "genocide" at all - then, after the admission, an intransigent refusal to step in and take any kind of action to halt the holocaust. Perhaps the most heartrending moments come from interviews with survivors living in refugee camps in neighboring Chad, and from reflective comments made by Steidle himself as he struggles with the enormity of what he's seen and experienced and battles against the frustrating reluctance on the part of those who could actually do something to ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING.

After all the horrors it shows us, after all the inspiring images of one caring man making a difference in the world, the movie turns the spotlight directly onto the viewers, challenging them to take an active part in helping to end this human tragedy. Thus, the movie concludes with a list of websites and telephone numbers where all concerned people can go to find out more about what they themselves can do to have an impact. It's a challenge well worth taking up.

Best documentary on Darfur so far

[adamdonaghey · 10/10 · 30 April 2007]

The most important aspect about The Devil Came on Horseback is its images, simply for the unfortunate fact that no one, really, has seen anything properly documenting the brutality going on over there. There's been sporadic text every now and then, and even a picture or two; but, by and large, the waves in the press about Darfur are merely ankle busters compared to this film's tsunami of pictorials and video, displaying the absolute horror of that region of Sudan.

The film follows Brian Steidle, a man who's entire career has been military-based. He served as a USMC captain and when he would no longer see combat, he left the military and accepted a contract position in Sudan with the Joint Military Commission, where he would be an integral part of the North-South ceasefire, rising the ranks from a team leader to senior operations officer. After seven months, he was invited to Darfur, where he would serve as an unarmed military observer and American representative for the African Union in that region. This film documents his findings as an observer.

What he found was systematic ethnic-cleansing genocide. The Sudanese government was not only enabling the mass extinction of its citizens, it was controlling it. The "devil" in the title of the film are the Janjaweed, nomadic black-Arab militia groups who massacre entire villages, by exterminating its non-Arab black African inhabitants and literally burn the tribes' homes to the ground. They are "paid" in plunder and are notorious for raping their female victims, castrating their male victims and torturing them all.

The Janjaweed have been more adequately equipped and become a far greater threat since non-Arab groups, the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement, have risen up against the Sudanese government, for its mistreatment of its people. Although the government of Sudan has repeatedly denied any assistance to these barbarous raiding bandits, this film has been a breakthrough of evidence, showing quite clearly the government's involvement.

To really understand this film, however, is to understand its tragedy. No one is really doing anything about this. Even after Steidle came back and lobbied before congress in an effort to call the United States to action, his plethora of images and video were dismissed as nothing more than inconvenient casualties in another state-sponsored genocide that we're unwilling to involve ourselves in. Sure, they were acknowledged and Colin Powell called it what it was--a "genocide"--but there's still over 450,000 dead and counting, and 2.5 million displaced.

I could describe to you the images I saw--the maiming and killing of men, women and children; their eyes gouged out and their bodies burned, castrated and mutilated--and how I reacted, emotionally with tears of hopelessness and regret, when I saw this film. But instead, I think it far more powerful for you to go see this film for yourself. Then perhaps you'll want to take action and help let our government know that you want it to take active involvement in stopping this nightmare. It's not enough to talk about it and acknowledge that it's happening--we need to take active measures in preventing the perpetuation of these government sanctioned massacres.

Remember, just as you've read this review in the comfort of your own home or office or wherever, the killing in Sudan continues. And it won't stop until every last one of the non-Arab black Africans are dead, or when, and if, someone steps in and takes appropriate action to stop it.

A man stumbles onto his dedication

[futures-1 · 25 March 2008]

"The Devil Came on Horseback" (2007): Documentary. This is an up close and personal look at the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, including those dead, tortured and raped, those who did it, those who supported it, and those who watched it happen. This is a sad, frustrating, and grisly document made by a man who sort of "stumbled onto" his dedication to help bring this ongoing issue into harsh international light. It's not that this hasn't happened before – it has. But here it is again, and this documentary doesn't give you the "Abstract Out" some do. One man rolled up his sleeves and caused this horror to be known to the world. I suggest you see it. You won't like it, but you'll also know you live an easy and safe life by comparison, and if you can, you might share some of your comfort with someone who has none.

Can't say I've seen much better

[Hint523 · 10/10 · 13 May 2008]

The Devil Came on Horseback is an exceptional documentary. Darfur is a conflict long overlooked and I rented this movie with apprehension. While I am a passionate advocate for action in Darfur, I wasn't sure weather this documentary would do it any justice or just be the same old boring info. I was wrong, and blown away. I have seen some moving films, regular or documentary, but this was incredible. Not only did it map out Darfur, but it also gave us an honest, compelling 1st-person account of what happened. As soon as I saw this movie I knew that I wanted to do something. The movie gives off so many emotions of frustration and sadness, and it's time to do something. I feel proud that a man like Brian has devoted his life to Darfur. I feel so frustrated that I cannot help more, but I will do my best to help as much as possible.

10/10

life changing

[lissamcgraw · 10/10 · 20 December 2007]

I watched this documentary with my 14 year old son and we both cried. What an atrocity, what a shame that this is happening while we are all celebrating Xmas. Why is nothing being done? Thank you Brian for bringing this to our attention....and shame on us if all we do is criticize how Brian made the movie!!!!! Do something folks! Do something.

We started by going to the website and purchasing shirts and wristbands to be given out at my son's school.. and we are writing to the President and other officials....and we are doing our research on how best to help. Don't just write a review....save some lives. We can all do something.

Not Again!!

[EXodus25X · 8/10 · 29 July 2008]

A very eye opening and hard hitting experience viewing this film. I do feel that it falls short on delivering the back story and facts to truly understand exactly what is going on and why in this region. To my benefit I had already seen the film Darfur Now which does a way better job describing the where's, what's and why's of this hole situation. Darfur Now doesn't have anything close to the experiences and the photographs taken by Brian Steidle. Basically what I'm saying is that watching both these films together will give you the complete picture of this tragedy. A couple of things Brian Steidle said in this film really hit me hard, first when he described his feeling about taking pictures from the hill top over looking a village and hes says if I would have had my rifle instead of my camera I could have prevented the deaths of so many people. I can't imagine what it would feel like to have that kind of training and then be put in a situation were you can't us it to help. Second when he is speaking in front of the Darfur rally in Washington D.C. and he describes first landing in Darfur and being introduced as an American and the people all standing up and cheering. This is just one man, yet they cheer, why, because he is American, because to these people an American means hope. Wow, I could not hold back the tears, after all the latest bashing of America and our current foreign police issues, don't get me wrong we have really screwed some things up, but there are people in the world that see America as a shining ray of light. Sometimes I think the media forgets to report on all the good we do as a country, just to think that when things go bad in the world who does the world call for.

Poorly edited film about a man on a mission

[rasecz · 6/10 · 6 May 2007]

To those who have seen this film and care deeply about Darfur this comment will feel uncaring, even heretical. Rest assured that I do care about Darfur, but I can't escape the fact that this documentary is not really about Sudan, it's about a person -- Brian.

Brian volunteered to be a military observer in Sudan to observe the cease fire of 2004. He witnessed many of the horrible events that happened that year. Many photographs were taken. Many are damnable of an uncaring Sudanese government. We are shown a few, but not enough. The film is very disappointing in that respect. It gives reason to those who claim that Brian's dossier does not constitute a strong enough case.

The first half is a rough chronology of Brian's stint in Sudan. It is described in words. What is on the screen is a random assemblage of footage that is flashed without context. Sure, dead bodies are dead bodies, burning villages are so, kids do play ball, Brian folds his tent, etc. The problem is that this material is edited so poorly that it becomes a mess of images. There is no focus. Images and words are often disconnected. We are quite often not sure what we see.

The editing improves when Brian goes to Chad. Finally we get a cohesive narrative that holds together visually. The short visit to Rwanda is also properly handled.

Overall it is a disappointing documentary. A missed opportunity to build a stronger case for saving Darfur and also a disservice to the work Brian has done to expose the crimes that are being perpetrated. The excessive focus on Brian and less on his photos ends up painting this as an ego trip.

compelling footage spoiled by bad editing

[conraderb · 7/10 · 6 May 2008]

For a film about a genocide, it starts interestingly enough and then stalls out due to a terrible editing job. It jumps around from mostly random clip to mostly random clip, without any overarching narrative other than the Janjaweed and the Sudanese government are killing people in Darfur.

Some of the footage was quite compelling, but the viewer is not shown enough.

The film wastes time by focusing too much on the frustrations of the photographer as he tries to rally the American public on the issue. It becomes the "Brian Steidle Goes to Washington" show - and surprise! The gear of justice turn slowly, and too much time is spent on Brian and his ennui, his intense yearn for action...

The film should have focused more on Darfur and Brian's photography work there Brian's media work in the US and Europe.

Darfur is an important issue, and someone who is as committed as Brian Steidle deserves a better editor who can weave a much more compelling narrative.

Interesting, but would have preferred a more objective approach

[bertseymour7 · 7/10 · 21 July 2008]

Don't get me wrong, I am all about assisting in Darfur, but having said that this documentary was shifting more towards propaganda than objective cinema. And perhaps that is what they wanted, my friend showed me this film and it was shockingly graphic. I personally enjoyed the part where Brian comes back to present this story and it is treated as nothing more than entertainment. It goes to show how things are perceived by the masses.

This film seemed to dig too deeply into Brian the marine officer hero, and not enough into the sociological implications of what this occurring means to our world. I felt the camera was too often on Brian, while I know it is important to show him since he brought the photos back I wasn't interested in seeing him transform into a passionate spokesperson, I would rather focus on what is happening over there.

I am a film goer who likes to think for himself, and this film doesn't allow me that luxury, it barks its orders at me as to what I should think and feel and do. It would be better if they let me digest this on my own. It is a tragedy over there, but I am interested in Darfur, not in the guy who photographed the insanity that is darfur.

But I suppose this film wasn't meant to be looked at as a "film" per se, but rather as an educational video.

Global Grassroots

[benmarks69 · 10 September 2007]

This isn't something I usually do, and I usually can't stand it when people preach or pontificate to me, however, this is too important to let sit any longer...

As I'm sure you're all aware the atrocities in Darfur have been going on for years. I'd imagine, if you're like me, you've heard the stories and been peripherally aware of the situation for years now. So what turns someone from one who sits on their couch and thinks "God, that's awful," to someone who writes this email and gets involved? A simple answer, I saw a movie this weekend. It's called The Devil Came on Horseback. It's a documentary that details the ongoing conflict in the Sudan. Make no mistake, though we hear little about it anymore, the atrocities continue. Since 2004 approximately 2.5 million Sudanese have been displaced and 400,000 killed.

In DC, the movie is playing at the Avalon Theater on Connecticut Avenue in NW. It's the only place in the area where the movie is showing. If you live outside the DC area, you can go to www.thedevilcameonhorseback.com for theaters and show times in your area. The film is, to put it mildly, disturbing. The images shown will be forever burned on to the IMAX in my mind.

It's as if the ethnic African Sudanese people have been forced into slavery. Now, that word has a lot of power, and most would suggest that it's foolish of me to use it, but, in essence that's what's going on. Not in the same sense as Africans were enslaved in this country, but slaves nonetheless. Slaves to the corporations who would rather protect profit than people. Slaves to their own government who defend and enrich only themselves. Slaves to the outside influence of countries who covet only the resources they can export, not the resources inherent in the humanity of those who reside there. Slaves to the circumstances around them over which they have no control and from which they have no escape. And it's time it stopped.

They say those that fail to understand history are doomed to repeat it. History is repeating itself. Let me ask you this.... If you could go back to the 1930's and stop the Holocaust before it happened, would you? What about the ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia? The genocide in Rwanda? We're too late to stop this before it starts, but we can help put an end to it before any more lives are uselessly wasted.

So, why am I writing this? Because, perhaps naively, I believe that a small group of dedicated people can change the world. And, what am I asking of you? See the movie. If you can't see the movie, and I know most of you have busy lives, jobs and other things that will probably keep you from getting to the theater, go to www.savedarfur.org or www.glabalgrassroots.org and donate $10 (the cost of a ticket). I know, asking for money is the fastest way to get people to hit the delete button, but you should know that 100% of the charitable partner proceeds earned from the film go to Global Grassroots (www.globalgrassroots.org), a non-profit charity that helps Darfuri refugees and Rwandan genocide survivors rebuild their lives. Think of it this way, it's one less drink when you're out one night or two less trips to Starbucks this week or month.

The reason this movie affected me so is I looked at those people and saw my friends and family. The dead and displaced are someone's mother or father, brother or sister or child. What would you do if they were yours?

The Devil Came on Horseback

[user-924-953285 · 7/10 · 2 January 2011]

Some may argue that this movie was boring- it didn't have any special effects, it didn't star any celebrities, and most of what it contained came from hand-held cameras and pictures taken by an amateur photographer, but I think that's what made this movie so effective and gave it so much impact. Regarding non-fictional documentaries, I think that if too much focus was given to make the movie aesthetically pleasing, rather than getting the message across, the film would become somewhat discredited. It would imply that the directors and producers of the film put more stress on making a name for themselves in Hollywood than giving a meaning to the movie and making audiences aware of the event.

That's how The Devil Came on Horseback was- it was more of an actual documentary than a movie. But because none of the pictures of films were dramatized, it actually had more impact than other movies that did- you know that, when you watch this, that this is the real thing. However, I got the feeling that it documented more of how the Sudanese government was trying to suppress information about what's happening in Darfur than on what's happening in Darfur itself. It also described a lot about how Brian's journey in trying to spread awareness about the genocide and get the government/ UN/ International Criminal Court to take action. I suppose whether it's good or bad is up to the audience and what they're looking for.

This was a good documentary, but I thought that I should have focused more on the genocide itself. However, it did shed a lot of light on how governments are very reluctant to act on something if it doesn't involve them, even if there is a moral obligation (especially if the government in question is the United States- the current world superpower). It also showed how non-binding the UN truly is (there have already been two arrest warrants for the president of Sudan, yet non of the countries Al-Bashir visited were willing to arrest him and extradite him).

Despite this, however, there were a scenes of anger (Sudanese officials and citizens denying the genocide in the Holocaust museum), grief (mostly the interviews of the black Africans targeted by the Janjaweed, who told their stories of suffering), and scenes that urged us to take action.

Overall, I do recommend this movie, but not if you are looking for facts regarding the genocide in Darfur, but rather a fellow reporter finding it hard to get his story out, or to get people to care about his cause.

The shocking material saves the film from the weaknesses in the delivery and structure

[bob the moo · 5 May 2008]

When he finished in the field with the US Marines, Captain Brian Steidle turns away from a desk job on his way up the ranks and instead takes a job as a military observer of the ceasefire in Sudan. The access he is able to have within the country ultimately leads him to be in no doubt that he is seeing Government-backed genocide against the African citizens of Darfur. With no weapon but his reports and his photographs, Steidle charts all that he sees in villages razed to the ground. This film charts his growing frustration at the lack of movement that this approach seems to create.

Normally I would criticise those who praise a film for its subject rather than judge it on the basis of the film itself. Normally this film would be one of those and on these terms I would not be as kind to it as it really deserves. The reasons for this are clear from watching the film because really it could have been better structured and delivered. I thought the film would use Steidle as a device to explore the subject but somehow it tends to make him the subject too many times for my liking. This is a niggling irritation and it is not helped that the delivery of the subject is structured around his experiences – which is not always the most effective way of doing it because it does not build the case in the manner that would be most impacting and informative.

Having said that though, it is difficult to watch the film and not be moved and sickened because of the subject and because most viewers will have seen so little of what is happening in Darfur. The photographs are disturbing and graphic. Whether it be charred remains or humans with eyes gouged out, it is not easy to sit and watch without reaction. The lack of intervention is also difficult to watch and this is the one aspect that the focus on Steidle contributes to well because he feels the frustration firsthand.

Overall then this is a compelling and sickening film but it is nearly despite the film, not because of it. The structure is not strong enough and the focus on Steidle distracts and detracts as much as it adds – it should have used him more as a way in rather than the centrepiece of the film but these are minor complaints versus the shocking truths that the film puts in front of us. The images are sickening, so is the lack of action and the exposure the film gives to the subject is worthy of praise and makes this worth seeing even if it could have been better.