The Good Lie

The Good Lie is a beautiful, heart wrenching film inspired by true events. The film begins in Sudan during the Civil War and follows a group of young children as they attempt to flee their village after it is destroyed and find refuge in Ethiopia. Thirteen years after fleeing their country, the four surviving friends are sent to America to start a new life, but that presents its own challenges. Mamere, Jeremiah and Paul are sent to live and find work in Kansas, while their sister Abital is sent to live with a host family in Boston. They three boys must work together to navigate through this strange new world, while trying to become reunited with their sister and save their families back in Africa.

The first part of the movie can be difficult to watch, as it depicts the horrors of the Sudanese Civil War, and how these surviving children saw their families killed by invading troops. Also, how they trekked nearly 900 miles across the sub-Sahara, under the most dangerous and difficult conditions to reach the Kakuma Camp. The remainder of the film depicts the culture shock awaiting them in Kansas City as they relocate to America.

This was definitely better than expected.  The acting was decent although amateurish at times. I easily connected with all the characters, and would have loved if the film went deeper into their personal stories.



I felt that the problems confronted by those concern were sensitively portrayed without any obvious finger-pointing. However, at the end I felt the story could have been cinematically produced in a more dramatic way. Despite this shortcoming, it was still a wonderful touching story about the importance of human values that binds us all.

If what you'd prefer is a grittier, less starry- eyed version of events, there are documentaries - such as Lost Boys Of Sudan - which touch on the same issues and history with less of the Hollywood gloss and sparkle. The movie is sooo good.

But this movie is good too. if you want to watch something touching and feely. just watch it. because in my opinion, The Good Lie is better than what I expected it

7.4/10-IMDb
87%-Rotten Tomatoes
65%-Metacritic
7.5/10 - My verdict