Lost Boys of Sudan

by Michael Agger

As Peter and Santino, Sudanese orphans, prepare to leave their refugee camp in Kenya for a new life in the United States, a tribal elder tells them: "Donít act like those people who wear the baggy jeans, who do all the bad things in America." Itís a startling and prescient statement, encapsulating both the welter of American race relations and the sense of obligation the boys will feel to the people left behind. The documentary filmmakers Megan Mylan and Jon Shenk follow the pair for a year as they adjust to a "land called Texas." Santino finds a menial job in an electronics factory, while Peter moves to Kansas City and navigates the wilds of high school. Like those of many immigrants, their experiences are bittersweet; the scene in which Peter is invited to a pizza party with Christian teen-agers is one of many surreal and heartbreaking moments. (Film Forum.)

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