A woman demonstrates against repression in the documentary Sudan, Remember Us.
By Richard Ades
While much of the world is rightfully concerned about what’s going on in Gaza, the northeast African country of Sudan may be the site of even greater misery, if only because its population is far larger. After years of dictatorships, military coups, rebellion and civil war, its people—those who haven’t fled—find life a daily struggle.
The documentary Sudan, Remember Us is a record of the ways young Sudanese rebels tried to head off the current situation by fighting repression and pushing for change. These protesters are remarkable for the courage they display, but also for their creativity, as they often use poetry and other forms of art to make their points.
Written and directed by French-Tunisian filmmaker Hind Meddeb, the doc begins with scenes of military strife in Khartoum in 2023, representing the beginning of the civil war that still engulfs the country. It then flashes back four years to the spring of 2019, when a rebellion has ended the long reign of dictator Omar Al-Bashir.
The victory leaves the rebels, all young and many of them female, filled with optimism and resolve. With signs, murals, chants, songs, poems and sit-ins, they push for the freedoms they were denied under Al-Bashir’s rule.
Unfortunately, Sudan’s window of opportunity for change is short-lived. On the last night of Ramadan, soldiers attack a sit-in demonstration, leaving many of the protesters dead and ushering in a military crackdown.
The main frustration of watching Meddeb’s documentary is that it’s so embedded in Sudan’s struggles that it makes little attempt to explain them to outsiders. We’re seldom told what the political situation is at any particular moment, though the film makes it clear just how the changes affect the gutsy rebels.
After the initial crackdown in 2019, they continue protesting via poetry, songs and other means, but at one point the atmosphere becomes even more ominous. We’re told that the internet has been shut down and that political arrests are now carried out in secret by unidentified men in plain clothes.
This development is guaranteed to send chills down the spines of Americans who’ve noticed the parallels in our own country: the attempts to silence and even defund critical media voices, as well as the expanding army of masked agents who seize people off the streets or at their jobs, often ignoring their rights or legal status.
An important difference is that Sudan doesn’t have America’s history of democracy, though so far it has failed to stop the executive branch’s adoption of an autocratic playbook. On the other hand, Sudan seems to have an unusual affinity for inspirational music, poetry and other art, which buoyed rebels’ spirits and determination when their quest seemed increasingly hopeless.
Any American who was alive back in the 1960s knows that we once had a similar appetite for revolutionary art. Maybe it’s time we got it back.
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Sudan, Remember Us can be seen at select theaters and will open Aug. 15 at the Gateway Film Center in Columbus.
Reel Time With Richard Ades 