Director Ron Howard brings to life the real-life story of Sudan’s civil war through the lives of 6 youngsters who are left to fend for themselves, after these rebels kill their parents. Their journey to find shelter is marked by tragedy, as a few of the children die from starvation and sickness along the way. When the eldest and leader of the group, Theo, is captured by the rebels and taken away, all seems to be lost.
When the remaining children happen upon a refugee camp – THANK GOD – the children find a place, for now, that they can all HOME. As the years roll by in their safe haven, they wonder if they will ever be able to return to their homeland. When they think that they are destined to never leave, as fate would have it, they are all offered the opportunity to travel to America, and live a FREE LIFE. This all sounds incredible, until they arrive in America to find that Paul (Emmanual Jal), Mamere (Arnold Oceng), Jerimiah (Ger Duany) are headed to one part of the county and their Sister Abital (Kuoth Weil) is being separated from them, and sent somewhere else.
Enter Carrie (Reese Witherspoon) who has been secured to help them all find jobs and a place to live upon their arrival. Finding a place to live isn’t too hard, but finding each of them a job that they enjoy, is another story.
When Carrie finds out that the young men have been separated from their sister, she does everything in her power to reunite them, which includes letting Abital live with her, if that’s what it takes.
Everything should be perfect now, right? Not exactly, as Abital receives word that a Sudanese refugee has just arrived at their camp claiming to be Theo – Could this really be true? And will Carrie be able to get someone back into Sudan to find out for sure? And if it is Theo, then what?
I give THE GOOD LIE – 3 out of 5 stars – Once again, Ron Howard brings a phenomenal story of life and courage to the big screen. Reese is magical portraying her role in helping to aid this family in finding true refuge here in the states. The role is also enjoyable to watch as it is a more dramatic role, but she still brings her spunk and flair along, and even gets to be a Brunette this time around too! Corey Stoll is also superb as Witherspoon’s boss, helping her achieve everything she needs to on behalf of this family. And the actors portraying this Sudanese family are also very enjoyable to watch. This true life story will tug at your heart strings, as you find yourself hoping that all of their wishes, hopes and dreams come true, after all the struggles they have endured throughout the years in Sudan. If you want to see a heartwarming real life drama, that’s family friendly and mixed with a little RON HOWARD magic – then check out THE GOOD LIE this weekend at a theater near you!
Kathy Kaiser
MATINEE CHAT with Kathy Kaiser 