The Devil Came on Horseback

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The Devil Came on Horseback

2007

1h 28m

Documentary

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Popcornmeter

96%

Tomatometer

53 Reviews

90%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

While serving with the African Union, former Marine Capt. Brian Steidle documents the brutal ethnic cleansing occurring in Darfur. Determined that the Western public should know about the atrocities he is witnessing, Steidle contacts New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof, who publishes some of Steidle's photographic evidence.

Critics Consensus

The Devil Came on Horseback is both a strong primer on the complexities of the situation in Darfur and a harrowing first-person doc.

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Matt McNally

BBC.com

04/11/2008

3/5

The Devil Came On Horseback sets out to shock. The images caught by Steidle's camera will stay with you long after his personal story - given too much time in relation to events - has faded from memory.

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Owen Williams

Empire Magazine

04/11/2008

3/5

A decent attempt at outling the crises but crucially lacking much depth.

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Joshua Katzman

Chicago Reader

01/04/2008

Filmmakers Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg chronicle his burgeoning activism in the face of the U.S. government's indifference as the government of Sudan works systematically to eradicate black Africans from the region.

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Joanne Laurier

World Socialist Web Site

09/02/2020

[A] deeply misguided film...

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David Lamble

Bay Area Reporter

05/26/2020

Filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern show us hauntingly beautiful aerial shots of Western Darfur.

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Debbie Lynn Elias

Behind The Lens

11/07/2019

Nick and George Clooney opened my eyes as to the horrors of the genocide in the Darfur region of the Sudan. Former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle, together with filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern opened my conscience.

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05/09/2019

epic obama with movie in it!

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02/25/2014

2/24/14 This film dramatically shows so much of what is wrong in the world today. Mans inhumanity to man, religious strife, political apathy and lack of courage, a few voices crying in the wilderness, public support and anger that does nothing to move the dial. This is a very good but discouraging movie, I only hope his efforts are somehow rewarded.

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09/25/2013

Extremely sad.....especially when this documentary came out in 2007 and there really has been no change. The sadness is that human life is cheap and keeps getting cheaper. Remember the horrors that other people go through when you bad day is because you had to wait on line longer than expected. This documentary is not pretty...

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01/11/2013

Tragic and hard to watch, but a must-see nonetheless

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12/29/2012

If you already felt the devastation in Darfur was too complex to easily change, this documentary won't help. We follow a former Marine who, by a damning stroke of fate, found himself with the duty to document each case of genocide. Captain Steidle, raised in a strong military family, came in as a former Marine who had seen his share of combat. He's the only American who witnessed, for 6 months, the merciless violence. It has broken him, and in one scene we see him grieving, overwhelmed by his powerlessness to stop, even just once, what he had seen. After we see him testify to us through the media and meet with our leaders, it seems by the film's end that everyone is powerless, and we all just have to watch it.

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07/24/2012

INCREDIBLE and deeply disturbing. PLEASE watch this! I don't know how we can continue to live in ignorance and turn a blind eye to such undeniable need. Please use this as one of the first steps to educating yourself on the crisis in Darfur and take steps to see that change happens.

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Ricki Stern

Director

Anne Sundberg

Director

Ricki Stern

Writer

Anne Sundberg

Writer

Omar Amanat

Executive Producer

Eileen Haag

Producer

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Synopsis

While serving with the African Union, former Marine Capt. Brian Steidle documents the brutal ethnic cleansing occurring in Darfur. Determined that the Western public should know about the atrocities he is witnessing, Steidle contacts New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof, who publishes some of Steidle's photographic evidence.

Director: Ricki Stern, Anne Sundberg
Producer: Eileen Haag, Ira Lechner
Screenwriter: Ricki Stern, Anne Sundberg
Distributor: International Film Circuit [us]
Production Co: Break Thru Films
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: Arabic
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 25, 2007, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 23, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $132.3K
Runtime: 1h 28m

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