The Good Lie (2014) - Under-appreciated true story gem

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+ Best True Story Movie of the Year

The beautiful poster for Philippe Falardeau's The Good Lie

The civil war in Sudan takes parents away from large groups of innocent tribal children and youths, who are forced to walk hundreds of miles to get to a safe refugee camp. After many years there, a group of these now adult Sudanese are permitted to become immigrants in the US.

The incredible true story of Good Lie is greater than the film itself here, but luckily the filmmakers succeed in using it to tell an excellent and moving story of compassion, struggle and sacrifice.
The Good Lie is an edifying, beautiful and inspirational story with a structure that goes a bit here, a bit there, but which finds its way surely into one's heart regardless. Screenwriter Margaret Nagle (Red Band Society (2014), TV-series) and director Philippe Falardeau (Monsieur Lazhar (2011)) deserve compliments for both taking their time to show us the hellish escape of the kids to the refugee camp and their life there and the difficulties they encounter in their integration in America.
Here Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line (2005)) proves her status as a seasoned, wonderful star actress; she doesn't play a saint here but an ordinary and sometimes bossy American woman, who gradually begins to see the Sudanese as who they are. Corey Stoll (Ant-Man (2015)) also do well in this section of the film. Most impressive, however, and deeply humbling is the fact that 3 of the Sudanese protagonists are played by actual Sudanese refugees: Ger Duany (I Heart Huckabees (2004)), who portrays Jeremiah, and Emmanuel Jal (Africa United (2010)), who portrays Paul, were both child soldiers and later war refugees from Sudan, and Kuoth Wiel (Headlock (2015)), who portrays Abital, is also a Sudanese war refugee.
The Good Lie is a positive must-see!

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2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Top 10: The best true story movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
 

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 2.7 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertainty
[The Good Lie's distribution was very poorly handled by Warner Bros., who released it on less than 500 screens to a 0.8 mil. $ opening weekend. Despite great audience and critical response, the film fizzed out with just 2.7 mil. $ in domestic receipts. An international total isn't public, but numbers from 8 markets are on Box Office Mojo, of which Spain is the largest with just 0.2 mil. $. This film's release was poorly managed and received a shameful reception worldwide, it looks like, and depending on the unknown numbers, it looks, regrettably, like a mega-flop. The Good Lie is certified fresh at 88 % with a 6.7 critical average and a 4/5 audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. - Go buy this on DVD/Bluray/VoD today to encourage filmmakers to pursue important material such as this again in the future!]

What do you think of The Good Lie?

Machine Gun Preacher (2011) - Butler finds faith and a Sudanese purpose in Forster's incredible true story

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+ Best Religious Movie of the Year

Gerard Butler stands up to injustice on this poster for Marc Forster's Machine Gun Preacher

Sam Childers is a no-good drug addict until one serious misdeed gets him to turn his life around, find Jesus and a purpose in his life: To start an orphanage in war-torn Sudan.

Machine Gun Preacher is a true story, written by Jason Keller (Mirror Mirror: The Untold Adventures of Snow White (2012)) and directed by Marc Forster (Stranger than Fiction (2006)). It is straight forward, at times corny and not for those who don't love America, Jesus and/or freedom. And if it wasn't based on a true story, few would undoubtedly believe it.
But the film also surprises with a serious and angry portrayal of the despairing situation in Sudan. Childers' growing desperation and provocation at the excesses of America are acutely rendered. Machine Gun Preacher is, actually, an edgy and incredible story, moving and inspiring all in one, which dares to bring up some of the nauseating inequalities and material wastefulness in the world that's so often taboo at the movies.
Gerard Butler (The Bounty Hunter (2010)) gives a dedicated performance and is backed up by good Michelle Monaghan (Eagle Eye (2008)), Michael Shannon (The Harvest (2013)) and various African actors.
SPOILER The revelatory scene with the boy in the 3rd act is a little thick, but the film as a whole works outstandingly.

Related post:

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 30 mil. $
Box office: 3.3 mil. $
= Mega-flop
[Machine Gun Preacher got generally lukewarm reviews and a freezing reception by the public: It made 0.5 mil. $ (15 % of the total gross) in the US. Many were undoubtedly offended by the title, although historically, movie titles and audiences have not shied away from the sensational and bad-tasty. A big shame, since Machine Gun Preacher dares to go to difficult places with its sense intact. The film was shot on location in Africa, - an exhausting shoot that also reportedly claimed two production people's lives, although details about this have not been shared. Forster went on from this and made the successful, comparatively utterly pointless World War Z (2013).]

What do you think of Machine Gun Preacher?