We Come as Friends

(Hubert Sauper, France/Austria 2014, 110 min., DCP, diverse languages w/subtitles)

Rochester Premiere. Academy Award–nominated director Hubert Sauper’s We Come as Friends is a modern odyssey, a dizzying, science fiction–like journey into the heart of Africa. At the moment when the Sudan, the continent’s biggest country, is being divided into two nations, an old “civilizing” pathology re-emerges—that of colonialism, the clash of empires, and new episodes of bloody (and holy) wars over land and resources. The director of Darwin’s Nightmare takes us on this voyage in his tiny, self-made tin-and-canvas flying machine. He leads us into most improbable locations and into people’s thoughts and dreams, in both stunning and heartbreaking ways. Chinese oil workers, UN peacekeepers, Sudanese warlords, and American evangelists ironically weave common ground in this documentary, a complex, profound, and humorous cinematic endeavor.

“A masterfully composed and suitably outraged look at the neocolonialist exploitation of South Sudan.” – Variety

“[Hubert Sauper] is the rare documentary filmmaker who not only takes on tough subjects but also explores them with a vivid visual and aural approach.” – The New York Times