''Darfur'' (previously called ''Janjaweed'') is a 2009 American film directed by

Uwe Boll Uwe Boll (; born June 22, 1965) is a German filmmaker. He came to prominence during the 2000s for his adaptations of video game franchises which often starred international stars like Jason Statham, Burt Reynolds, Ray Liotta, Christian Slater, ...

concerning the current conflict in Darfur, starring

David O'Hara David Patrick O'Hara (born 9 July 1965) is a Scottish stage and character actor. A graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, he is best known to audiences for his numerous supporting roles in high-profile films; includ ...

, Kristanna Loken, Billy Zane and

Edward Furlong Edward Walter Furlong (born August 2, 1977) is an American actor. He won Saturn and MTV Movie Awards for his breakthrough performance at age 13 as John Connor in James Cameron's '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day''; which was followed by a mini-seque ...

. The film was also released as ''Attack on Darfur''.

Plot

The plot of ''Darfur'' revolves around six Western journalists who visit a small village in Darfur in

western Sudan Sudan is the geographical region to the south of the Sahara, stretching from Western Africa to Central and Eastern Africa. The name derives from the Arabic ' (), or "the lands of the Black people, Blacks", referring to West Africa and northern ...

under the escort of a squad of soldiers of the African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission. When they learn the brutal state sponsored militia called the

Janjaweed The Janjaweed ( ar, جنجويد, Janjawīd, lit=mounted gunman; also transliterated ''Janjawid'') are a Sudanese Arab militia group that operate in Sudan, particularly Darfur, and eastern Chad. Using the United Nations definition, the Janjaweed ...

are heading towards the village, they are faced with an impossible decision: leave Sudan and report the atrocities to the world, or risk their own lives and stay in the hopes of averting a certain slaughter. While most of them flee back to their base, two of the journalists, Freddie Smith, and Theo Schwartz, decide to stay behind along with the

Nigerian Army The Nigerian Army (NA) is the land force of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is governed by the Nigerian Army Council (NAC). The Chief of Army Staff is the highest ranking military officer of the Nigerian Army. History Formation The Nigerian ...

commander of the AU unit, Captain Jack Tobamke, to try to save the villagers when the Arab Janjaweed enter the village and begin to indiscriminately kill all the

Black African Black is a Racialization, racialized classification of people, usually a Politics, political and Human skin color, skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have ...

men, women, and children. Despite their efforts to save some villagers, Captain Tobamke, Theo, and Freddie are all killed one by one in the subsequent shootout with the Janjaweed, but not before killing or wounding a few dozen of the savage militia. The surviving Janjaweed then burn the village to the ground and move on, presumably to continue their genocide rampage across the Darfur landscape. The final scene shows the female member of the journalist team, Malin Lausberg, who had fled with most of the other reporters and AU soldiers during the Janjaweed attack, now return to the destroyed village the next day with a group of AU soldiers only to find everyone dead, including two of her colleagues. But she finds an infant that Freddie protected by hiding under Theo's dead body as the sole survivor of the massacre. Malin takes the baby with her as she and the rest of the AU troops leave the destroyed village behind.

Cast

as Freddie Smith * Kristanna Loken as Malin Lausberg * Billy Zane as Bob Jones *

as Adrian Archer *

Noah Danby Noah Dalton Danby (born April 24, 1974) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for portraying Connor King in the series ''Painkiller Jane''. Early life Danby was born in Guelph, Ontario, the son of painter Ken Danby. Personal life Danby became e ...

as Theo Schwartz *

Matt Frewer Matthew George Frewer (born January 4, 1958) is an American-Canadian actor, singer and comedian. He portrayed the 1980s icon Max Headroom in the 1985 TV movie and 1987 television series of the same names. He became prominent when playing role ...

as Ted Duncan *

Hakeem Kae-Kazim Hakeem is an Arabic-language given name, a romanization variant of Hakim. It can also be used as a surname. Notablle people with the name include: Given name * Hakeem Abdul-Saboor *Hakeem Abdul-Shaheed *Hakeem Adeniji * Hakeem al-Araibi * Hakeem ...

as Captain Jack Tobamke * Sammy Sheik as Janjaweed Commander

Development

''Darfur'' was filmed outside of

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

in February and March 2009. Boll himself describes the film as "something that's very shocking". Much of the dialogue is improvised by the actors and the film is shot mostly with handheld cameras to convey a sense of realism, similar to Boll's previous films ''

Stoic Stoic may refer to: * An adherent of Stoicism; one whose moral quality is associated with that school of philosophy * STOIC, a programming language * ''Stoic'' (film), a 2009 film by Uwe Boll * ''Stoic'' (mixtape), a 2012 mixtape by rapper T-Pain * ...

'' and '' 1968 Tunnel Rats''.Boll's Sabotage
Eye for Film Andrew Robertson

Reception

In September 2010 ''Darfur'' won the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival prize for the best international film. Human rights activist John Prendergast and Amnesty International were both reported to be impressed with the film.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Darfur 2009 films 2000s war drama films English-language Canadian films War in Darfur 2000s English-language films Films directed by Uwe Boll Films set in Sudan Films shot in South Africa Canadian war drama films 2009 drama films 2000s Canadian films