Watch We Come as Friends

We Come as Friends is a 2014 mesmerizing and deeply moving documentary by the Austrian filmmaker, Hubert Sauper. The film documents the complexity of the Sudans political turmoil while exploring the discourse of imperialism. The film chronicles the struggles of the South Sudanese people shortly after their secession from Sudan in 2011. We see the impact of the colonization period, the Africa’s largest civil war, global capitalism, and multinational corporations, all of which have stoked the tension and conflicts that continue to tear apart the young country.

The opening sequence of the documentary invites you to strap in for a reflective and at times disturbing journey to a place where the world is changing. Sauper’s five-year undertaking culminates in an unflinching view of South Sudan, a place where he wants to uncover vast oil reserves and to examine the exploits of international players eager to capitalize on the new market.

The film centers on a range of subjects, but most importantly, it speaks to those who view Africa, Sudan, and its people as a place of exploitation and propaganda. In this chronicle of avarice, the film highlights the appalling atrocities that continue to rock the Sudanese architecture.

Sauper is a fantastic storyteller, and his story is well-paced, thought-provoking, and insightful. He interweaves aerial and terrestrial shots that take us from the Sudanese wilderness that extends to Kenya, Central African Republic, and Uganda to the sleek boardrooms of multinational enterprises as they negotiate land deals.

The film’s central focus is on the great strides made by two rival interest groups in their quest to control the resources at South Sudan. On one hand, we have the Chinese who seem to have great investment in the Sudanese state utilizing a soft power presence in South Sudan. The other group of foreigners is the UN, USAID, and the Brussel’s representative that lurk on the sidelines.

Sauper gravitates between these two ends, revealing that the real enemy of Africa is neither the Chinese nor the Western imperialists. However, both groups expose the incompetence of leaders and their abuse of power. This film is neither blunt nor shallow, and it lays bare the causes that inform much of the geopolitical divides of the developing world.

One of the primary draws of this documentary is the insight into the Sudanese people's everyday lives. Sauper spent five years capturing well-orchestrated moments of local people processing its first democratic elections and discussing the possible futures with a sense of caution and skepticism. The elections took place with a sense of sheer exhaustion, and Sauper reveals their voices and perspectives while the political elites remain aloof.

This documentary is sledgehammering in its critique of France’s role in the tragic history of Sudan. Sauper lays bare the extent to which France uses its position within the EU to monopolize the countries' resources. The French portrayed themselves as ‘peacekeepers’ to the world when they also sought out Sudan as a new colony. Sauper demonstrates that France’s interests in Sudan have not changed since it gained independence.

We Come as Friends is a remarkable achievement in artistic storytelling. It is an ethnographic film that draws from the complex history of a country that has become a knot of international interests. Sauper captures disparate moments of danger and despair, but also deep beauty, culture, and hope in the Sudanese wilderness.

Performance wise, The Sudanese are the true stars of We Come as Friends. We see their fortitude in the broader landscape of struggles that have bedeviled the region for half a century. We hear their stories of resilience and their search for sovereignty. Sauper manages to show the tenacity and survival spirit of the Sudanese while they navigate a political and economic environment that seems to be against their vision.

The film's inherent power comes from Sauper's intent in showing how expensive it is to maintain Sudan’s wilderness and resources. The natural beauty of Sudan faces oil rigs and oppression by foreign powers. Sauper understands this and captures the true complexities and hostility imposed on Sudan's people. These visuals compel viewers to reevaluate their assumptions, and habits about a place that has been so vilified in the global press.

In conclusion, We Come as Friends is a powerful and unapologetically frank investigation into the truth about Sudan. The documentary's overall tone is one of wrestling with the truth and the real motives behind the destabilization of a crucial African state. Sauper's brave, poetic and beautifully constructed work is an insight into a place that most people would never contemplate. It is psychological and deeply engaging, and sets out to question the fundamental myths surrounding the state of Sudan.

We Come as Friends is a 2015 documentary with a runtime of 1 hour and 49 minutes. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 7.4 and a MetaScore of 80.