Living in what has been labeled the land of milk and honey, it's hard to imagine a world where someone actually believes that God grew so tired of him and his fellow countrymen that He merely gave up on them. Such is a line of dialogue spoken by John Bul Dau in God Grew Tired of Us, Christopher Dillon Quinn's extraordinary documentary about the Lost Boys of Sudan. Many have heard the term, but only after watching this engrossing, at times funny and at other times tearfully emotional film can one really say they know who these boys are.

In 1983 the second and one of the longest lasting and deadliest wars of the latter 20th century began in Sudan. To avoid being slaughtered by their aggressors from the North, 25, 000 boys ages 2 – 13 fled their homeland and marched for five years and more than 1,000 miles from Sudan to Kenya. Only 12,000 survived the journey, as the film shows, by creating family units where an eight-year-old boy might be in charge of feeding, carrying and protecting a two and a three-year old.

Once they arrived at the UN's refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya, the boys banded together even tighter, to make sure they took advantage of the services offered at the camp and sustained each other with entertainment on the "black days" when no food was available.

God Grew Tired of Us is a record of a life-changing journey of three boys -- John Bul Dau, Daniel Abol Pach and Panther Bior -- “Dinka” boys from on the largest tribes in southern Sudan and part of the 3,800 survivors chosen to resettle in the United States in 1997. The trip on the plane explains much of what their future holds. Their uncertainty and the awareness of what's going on around them are on the level of a three-year-old discovering the world for the first time.

When the loud voice of the pilot greets the Lost Boys on the plane, one startled young man responds with widened eyes as he searches overhead as if the voice is indeed God. Another opens a pat of butter on his food tray and eats it, remarking it tastes like soap.

While the boys speak very good English that they learned in the camp, they have no idea about what life in America will bring. John looks at a map of New York and remarks, "It's very small." There are many laughs in the film as the boys learn about showers, that you don't eat crackers by crunching them up in milk, and that trash actually belongs in a certain place.

Quinn, a New York City-based filmmaker, stayed with the boys for the first three weeks, accompanying Daniel and Panther to Pittsburgh and John to Syracuse, witnessing the culture clash that greeted the boys in their new homes. The learning curve was challenging as volunteers introduced the three young men to household items and American customs. "From refrigerators, lamps and alarm clocks to shaving cream and donuts with sprinkles, the everyday objects that Americans take for granted were a baffling new discovery for young men who had lived with next-to-nothing in a refugee camp," explained Quinn.

Under the guidance of difference agencies, the young men are soon working one or more jobs and some going to school at the same time. They walked for five years with little or no food, so their resilience is not surprising. What's shocking is the boys’ demeanor.

A young boy cast into a harsh world and struggling against insurmountable atrocities to survive surely should be full of anger and hate. Yet the Dinka boys are just the opposite. Each boy arrives with the peaceful, loving spirit of being glad he's alive and anxious to do well in America, not for himself but so he can send money back to Africa for the other Lost Boys left behind.

The boys also maintain a deep spirituality, probably learned from missionaries who visited the camp. This is illustrated in the movie by John as he watches TV in his apartment at Christmas time. He sees pictures of Santa Claus and is confused, asking one of his advisors, "Is Santa Claus in the Bible? Christmas is the birth of Jesus. Why is this Santa Claus?"

“You can imagine their shock when they observed an entire aisle full of dog and cat food,” said Quinn. “It was quite an experience.”

When local families treated the boys to dinner at restaurants, it often became a painful event. "They knew that all the guys back in the camp were hungry and they were aware of consumption at every turn they made,” said Quinn, who noted that none of the boys expressed anger with the inequity they observed. “It's not in their nature, which is uniquely 'Dinka.' They are not judgmental."

In the movie John expresses his compassionate nature several times. A big strapping man, he had become a leader of many boys in the camp, and on film he chokes back tears when he says, “We are missing friends…we are missing our fellow countrymen.”

The film records the young men's joys of freedom and sorrowful reflections on what they left behind plus a reunion for Lost Boys in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The majority of the Lost Boys never knew if their family members were dead or alive. After 17 years of wondering, John finally received a letter informing him that his father, mother, three brothers and three sisters were alive and living in Uganda. Quinn follows John to the airport to record a reunion with his  mother that is so overpowering she collapses on the floor and then rises to do a native dance of happiness which brings strange looks from those in the airport and leaves not a dry eye in the theater audience.

One of the more fascinating aspects this movie presents involves looking at Americans through the eyes of the Lost Boys. They can't understand why a grocery store would not want five of them to shop together, or why they can't converse with people on the bus, or spend time with their neighbors just talking.

Nicole Kidman, who narrates the film, said, “What I find remarkable about this film is that it communicates the incredible optimism and resilience that the Lost Boys share, despite the suffering and sadness they knew for so many years. Their friendships are sacred.”

In 2006, God Grew Tired of Us was accepted at the Sundance Film Festival and won both the Grand Jury Prize as well as the Audience Award. Today the Lost Boys in America are a shinning example of what human sacrifice can do. They're earning college degrees and sending money back home. John Bul Dua began a non-profit organization and plans to build a medical clinic in his home county of Duk, Sudan, which would be the first hospital in that county “since God created the earth,” he said. “Nothing, nothing, nothing is more important than to help the African people… nothing will make me happier than to put smiles on their faces.”  

God Grew Tired of Us put a smile on my face while watching it; but more importantly, it left a profound feeling of pride in my heart for the messages of brotherly love these fine young men are spreading across our planet.

(Released by Newmarket Films & National Geographic Films and rated “PG” for thematic elements and some disturbing images.)

Review also posted at www.reviewexpress.com.