Earnest and heartfelt, The Good Lie is a fine film inspired by true stories of courage, survival, and loss. It sheds light on a tragic chapter in world history and the victims of that tragedy, and keeps its narrative focus squarely on characters whose experiences both in Sudan and in the United States are representative of what thousands endured. It’s a sentimental portrait of those experiences, no doubt, but that sentiment is earned and unforced. In other words, though its characters technically are fictional, the film feels true, and for that reason alone, it deserves to be seen.
The film begins in Kenya in April 2001, with four Sudanese refugees — Mamere (Arnold Oceng), his sister Abital (Kuoth Wiel), and their close friends Jeremiah (Ger Duany) and Paul (Emmauel Jal) — preparing to board a plane that will take them away from the refugee camp that’s been their home for more than a decade to new lives with sponsor families in the United States. It then flashes back to 13 years before, when their tranquil tribal existence was destroyed forever by soldiers fighting in a civil war they knew nothing about. Orphaned and alone, the four children, along with Mamere and Abital’s older brother Theo, walk literally hundreds of miles to the border with Kenya, seeking safety from the conflict. Along the way they face the perils of nature, starvation, lack of water, and the persistent threat of being found by the very soldiers who killed their parents and families. In the end, it’s Theo’s sacrifice that allows the four to reach sanctuary, and his selfless act as well as his absence continues to haunt them as they grow to adulthood.
Flash-forward again to 2001, as the four find themselves chosen by lottery to be brought to America — Kansas City, MO, to be precise — for a chance at new lives thanks to a program run by a faith-based charity organization. But once they’re on American soil, they face a whole host of new challenges thanks to the entirely different world they’ve suddenly been launched into. Eventually, they find an advocate in Carrie (Reese Witherspoon), an employment agency worker initially assigned to just help them find jobs. At first, she’s detached and relatively disinterested in her strange new cases beyond professional obligation — when she meets them she’s completely ignorant of their experiences or even what country in Africa they came from. But as she learns more about Sudan and the plight of hundreds of thousands of orphaned children and displaced families as a result of the war she takes it upon herself to help her new charges truly build new lives.
Directed by Oscar-nominated Canadian film maker Philippe Falardeau (2011’s Monsieur Lazhar), The Good Lie is striking as a film first and foremost for the sense of authenticity it exudes. What audiences see in terms of the experiences of the “Lost Boys” both as children fleeing the conflict that destroyed their homes and as young adults grappling with culture shock, homesickness, and powerlessness in the face of their situation in their new home all looks and feels genuine. There’s no false drama, no shoehorned Hollywood film plotting or tropes, and the film’s ending will certainly surprise those who expect it to take a Hollywood-style “feel good movie” turn. If anything, there’s some slight artifice and melodrama written into Witherspoon’s character, but to the film makers’ credit the plucky American single working class girl dealing with her closeness issues never draws the spotlight away from the story that matters, the story they clearly really wished to tell.
To that end, the prominence of Witherspoon in the film’s marketing is almost a bait-and-switch. This is most certainly not her movie, but rather a movie where she plays a prominent supporting role. She plays the role well, no doubt, but it’s probably not more than 30 minutes of screen time.
The film truly belongs to the cast playing the “Lost Boys”, all of whom have some connection or personal experience with the Sudanese Civil War that ravaged Sudan for more than two decades and has recently flared up yet again. London stage actor Oceng and Toronto-based musician and activist Emmanuel Jal in particular bring tremendous intensity and emotion to their roles, while Ger Duany, a film maker in his own right, brings a quiet strength to the role of Jeremiah, the group’s most devoutly religious member.
In the end, perhaps the only part of the film that feels heavy-handed in the least is its title, which plays a part in the film’s bittersweet resolution. It’s certainly a forgivable move on the part of the film makers. Go see The Good Lie, and when you do, if you’re prone to sniffles during sad movies, pack tissues, because there will most likely be tears. Fair warning.
Score: 3.5 out of 5
The Good Lie
Starring Reese Witherspoon, Arnold Oceng, Ger Duany, Emmanuel Jal, Corey Stoll. Directed by Philippe Falardeau.
Running Time: 110 minutes
Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some violence, brief strong language and drug use.