Review: Benjamin and His Brother
April 1, 2004 § Leave a Comment
In this era of patriotism, we are quick to point to our country as the Land of Liberty, the Land of Freedom, and the Land of Opportunity. It is less often characterized, as immigrants once did, as the Land of Dreams, though that may be more accurate in the eyes of the world. In his film “Benjamin and His Brother,” filmmaker Arthur Howes documents the journey one man makes with that image in mind.
As members of a group of thousands Sudanese refugees known as “The Lost Boys,” Benjamin and William are brothers who escaped civil war in their own country, traveling on foot to Ethiopia and then being transferred to refugee camps in Kenya. From there, they wait to be repatriated to America. Benjamin is expecting that he and William will go together.
Benjamin knows little about his future home, but he envisions himself zipping around in a BMW, living the good life — meanwhile, the thought of his mother dying viciously in Sudan haunts him and taints his good fortune. « Read the rest of this entry »
