America is F'n Great!

In 2004 America's Heart and Soul was supposed to be the antithesis to Michael Moore's Farenheit 9/11. The problem was the film ended up being critically trashed and then nobody bothered to see it. (It made a paltry $300 thousand next to the record breaking 9/11's $119 million.) Before it was released, I remember being intrigued by the trailer for it, I thought it looked like a film at least worth seeing. But after it came out without a whimper I forgot about it.

When looking for documentaries to watch for this column I stuck it in my Netflix list with little thought. While putting it in my DVD player, I had the feint memories of the trailer playing in my mind, remember that it was something that I wanted to see at one point. What hit me immediately was how gorgeous the film was. I'm a sucker for beautiful photography and time lapse. Two things that America's Heart and Soul filmmaker Louis Schwartzberg obviously excels at. So I got into the film immediately.

Another thing I'm a guillible for is oddball, eccentric, and charismatic folks. The first of many people Louis decides to point his camera at is Roudy Roudebush, a real life cowboy from Telluride, Colorado. He's a man with a real lust for life and that shines through immediately. As soon as I started thinking, "oh cool, we're going to ride with this dude for a while", the film quickly shifts gears to a Cajun musician from Louisiana. He's also a fairly interesting guy, but I'm already missing Roudy. Next thing I know we're onto an old woman gospel singer, who's praising Jesus for how great life in America is... and suddenly I know what the critics were talking about.

Roudy Roudebush in all of America's majesticness.

Every five minutes or so we're introduced to another character in the American quilt-work of society. Most of them are worth spending some time with: a NYC bike messenger with a death wish, an explosives artist from Colorado, cliff dancers from California, an acrobatic flyer from Florida and on and on. The only subject that the average viewer would know anything about is Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, but we barely spend even two minutes with him. And that's one of the film's big problems, all these people deserve more. Each is worthy of much more digging, the films barely scratches the surface of who these people are before moving on to the next.

And the underlying theme of it all is, "damn, ain't the U.S. of A. a fantastic place to live!" The film is full of quotes like: "Cherish your freedom." "Finding your passion in life is very important." "I've been broke many times in my life, but I've never been poor." For this cynic it was getting to be too much. There is only one moment in the entire film, where it looks like America isn't the absolute perfection of society. We meet some West Virginian steel workers who are losing their jobs overseas, but even that turns into the American dream, these guys buy the steel plant and make it a wonderful place to work, where their insurance saves pretty little girls from dying.

After a while, even the superb photography started to grate me the wrong way. Instead of simply being pretty, it started to feel like the beauty of our country was being shoved down my throat. There are no blemishes, everything is perfect, country or city, rich or poor. When we all damn well know it isn't. That sort of idea doesn't fly these days. Even the Cleavers may have found this film too syrupy.

Filmmaker Louis Schwarzberg

The thing is though, I could tell that this isn't what filmmaker Louis Schwartzberg, was trying to portray when he set out to make the film. I think he simply wanted to make a film about how good life can get, that there are nice things in the world. He was trying to capture the elusive American dream in all its aspects. It's not a bad idea for a film. But somewhere along the way, he swallowed the Kool-Aid and sent the film awry. The Republican Party snuck into the editing room, beat him over the head, and cut the film based on how they thought America should be portrayed. Near the end of the film, they even throw in a happy montage to Smash Mouth's All Star. A trend I thought was over. Can we please put a stop to the madness!

From time to time, the rosy filter would drop, a real moment would cheat through and it would give me chills. If the entire film managed to be honest like this America's Heart and Soul might have been an instant classic. However, for the majority of the film, we're looking at America as it only exists in Chevy commercials.

America isn't all it's cracked to be.

The Lost Boys of Sudan is an honest look at the shit that the world can throw at us. Over two million people have been killed in the civil war of Sudan, leaving thousands of boys without family. The majority of their sad lives have been spent in refugee camps. When the promise of a better in life in America comes a calling, the boys are delighted to be given a fresh start. One of the Christian workers at the camp promises them, "the journey you're going on is like going to Heaven." High expectations, that are bound to be broken.

We meet two of these Lost Boys, Peter and Santino, when they find out that they're going to be some of the few lucky ones sent to Heaven... uhh... Houston. They say goodbye to their friends and board a plane bound for promising new lives. They literally get their first taste of American life on the plane, eating an airline salad. To which they respond; "What is this?" That is only the tip of their acclimation to the American lifestyle.

Santino on one of his last days at the refugee camp.

Once they get to Houston, they soon find out that they aren't going to given all that they've been promised; mainly good jobs and an education. They're pretty much left to fend for themselves, thrust into a world that is completely different from their own. They're aliens in a strange new world. They miss their friends and the living situation that they're accustomed with. Deep down they know they really are better off and there is no turning back, even if they wanted to.

Houston isn't working out for Peter, he decides to move to Kansas City. He works it out so he can go to high school. He's the only African orphan, in a school of upper-middle class whites. A couple of good-hearted kids try to befriend him, and Peter tries his hardest to fit in, but it's obvious that he's an outsider. Peter leaves an emotionally hurt Santino in an apartment with a couple other refugees. Santino is the only one with a job and he feels that it is his duty to take care of his "brothers". It's heartbreaking to watch as he learns the hard way about the hazards of every day life: his misunderstanding of the how to pay rent and the legalities behind driving.

Peter at school.

Filmmakers Megan Mylan and Jon Shenk have put the film together nicely. With no cloying voice-over telling us what to feel or interviews with the film's subjects where they explain how hard they've had it. We're simply along with them as they go about their lives. There are a few jumps in time, where it seems like we're not getting the whole story, especially the part where Peter suddenly decides to leave Houston. On the whole the film is a bit short, I would have liked it a little more well rounded.

Lost Boys of Sudan presents the world and America in all it's roughness. That life can be tough as hell, but if you work hard, take a few knocks along the way, in the end you can better your situation. We're only with Peter and Santino for the first year of their new lives, so we're left not knowing if they "make it", but you get the feeling that they're going be just fine. In the end that is their American dream.

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Ross Williams is a writer/director/editor, currently working on his first feature length documentary film. He lives in Ashland, OR with his wife and son. You can view his previous work at: eRATicate.com