We Come as Friends

2014 Directed by Hubert Sauper

As war-ravaged South Sudan claims independence from North Sudan and its brutal President, Omar al-Bashir, a tiny, homemade prop plane wings in from France. It is piloted by eagle-eyed documentarian Hubert Sauper, who is mining for stories in a land trapped in the past but careening toward an apocalyptic future.

George Clooney

110 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by RJ Lozada ★★★★★ 1

War and colonialism is some fucked up shit....so is most of western civilization... We are the aliens, and they are alien to us. This is the core premise of We Come as Friends. If you're familiar with any kind of film critiquing colonialism then this is up your alley--as a colonized subject myself, Hubert seemed to have nailed the discord, and surreality. This film is in the same camp as The Act of Killing, a distant cousin to Rustling in the Leaves, and a friend to any of Heddy Honingman's work in South America.
Review by Peter H ★★★★

March Around the World 2018: South Sudan
From the opening voiceover that encourages you to consider Africa as another planet to the arial shots of the landscape at dizzying, even nauseating angles, We Come as Friends is a film meant to disorient you. We often jump to a new scene without understanding what we're looking at. We are aliens on this planet, slowly gathering interviews and other information to understand what we see. Distanced from colonial mentality in this way (I doubt it can ever be fully removed), the images sneak past our defenses to reveal something deeply uncomfortable, even horrifying. South Sudanese toddlers sobbing as they're forced into socks and sandals, which Texan missionaries insist is for their health.…
Review by Vladimir

“Let me tell you that people such as Europeans and Americans, went away from home and began to colonize other places, which they took by force. There was a lot of fighting and they divided Africa into sections: like Sudan, Uganda, Nigeria, etc. And later they called them “free nations”. After that, they went high into space and took the moon! Did you know that the moon belongs to the white man?
Did you know that the moon belongs to the white man?
Did you know that the moon belongs to the white man?
Did you know that the moon belongs to the white man?
Did you know that the moon belongs to the white man?
Did you know that…
Review by matt lynch ★★★★ 3

Africa addio.
Review by David LaRiviere

An indictment of foreign interests that continue to colonize and exploit the besieged people of South Sudan, following them into independence with empty rhetoric and Western and Eastern double-speak. At one point Hubert Sauper's camera bears witness to a humongous land lease acquisition of 600,000 hectares for $25,00.00 USD, as one of the locals reads the contract enumerating the rights to timbre, water, agro-business, and of course oil, natural gas and any hydrocarbons. This swindle was declared and then concluded with the reading of the name and address of their disgusting neoliberal colonizers: "Nile Trading & Development, 10694 Pagewood Drive, Dallas, Texas." Difficult to watch but necessary to understand: what is termed "development" is, in fact, analogous to mugging someone incapacitated on a hospital bed. Horrific. Brave. Important.
Review by Crawlspace Dweller Matt [♥] ★★★½

Every African Country - #6: South Sudan
"Did you know the moon belongs to the white man?"
South Sudan is currently the youngest country on earth being independent since 2011. So young actually that it wasn't even in TMDB's and Letterboxd's database. I had to contact TMDB so they add it.
This film is about the conflicts in (South) Sudan caused by colonialism and it's depressing as fuck...
I like documentaries that just give an unbiased insight of a situation from the outside looking in. Just vignettes and interviews from all sides without commenting on it. Letting it all speak for itself. We Come As Friends does that very well.
It's aggrevating to see things like a British white guy…
Review by Keith Watson ★★★★

How does an outsider make a film about about Africa without adopting, intentionally or unintentionally, a colonialist point of view?
In We Come as Friends, director Hubert Sauper (“Darwin’s Nightmare”) answers this question: “You can’t.” Without context-providing titles or expert talking heads, and with only intermittent poetic narration, Sauper presents Africa as another planet and the foreign superpowers, particularly China and the United States, as interstellar conquerors. We see, for example, Chinese oilmen discussing their dream of a land with vast resources and no people, as scenes from “Star Trek,” “Star Wars,” and “2001: A Space Odyssey” play. In a quotation that bookends the film, “Did you know that the moon belongs to the white man?,” Sauper brilliantly interrogates the…
Review by Michael Casey ★★★★½

“The British came with Bibles in their right hands, and guns in their left hands.”
Hubert Sauper came to Southern Sudan in a homemade plane — a tin can with fabric wings and a motorcycle engine — with cameras so small, so unobtrusive that the locals could only treat him with a friendly demeanor.
Southern Sudan is full of color and life, but that is not what makes it valuable to other nations. They want the oil, the land and the minerals.
Sauper was on hand to see the declaration of democracy of Southern Sudan, effectively ending the slavery of Arab colonization. George Clooney was there also. Though the Arab rule has ended, that doesn’t make Southern Sudan up for…
Review by Emma ★★★★½

Hubert Sauper at Movies that Matter, The Hague: "We are used to a narrative [in] which (..) we see a film about problems, say, 'human rights films', and the most recurring line is: the problem is so-and-so, someone's a bad guy, someone's a good guy, and towards the second part of the film - mostly made in North-America - there's someone from our part of the world, usually a blonde woman, who makes all the difference, saves people and has good ideas for the future, and it eases out until the end of the film. It gives you hope, and then you have a website where you can donate and you're really happy that you can go and have your…
Review by EDoublez ★★

Hot Take: A documentary on the current state of The Sudan that lacks narrative focus and direction.
Review by sailordanae ★★★★

Film #1 of March Around the World 2020
Country: South Sudan
A powerful indictment of colonialism, as seen through the lives and words of the South Sudanese people. Touches on every aspect by which the people are colonized - through the extraction of raw materials, the selloff of land (as well as leasing agreements that may as well be sales), the eviction of the people from their traditional grounds or from the useage of that land (real Christian of you, missionaries), the imposition of Christian religion and it's attendent religious shame, the elimination of native tradition, the destruction and degredation of land and water, the dumping of trash and unwanted goods.
The title is pure irony, as no one has…
Review by russman ★★★½

Don't call him English

Recent reviews

Review by David LaRiviere

An indictment of foreign interests that continue to colonize and exploit the besieged people of South Sudan, following them into independence with empty rhetoric and Western and Eastern double-speak. At one point Hubert Sauper's camera bears witness to a humongous land lease acquisition of 600,000 hectares for $25,00.00 USD, as one of the locals reads the contract enumerating the rights to timbre, water, agro-business, and of course oil, natural gas and any hydrocarbons. This swindle was declared and then concluded with the reading of the name and address of their disgusting neoliberal colonizers: "Nile Trading & Development, 10694 Pagewood Drive, Dallas, Texas." Difficult to watch but necessary to understand: what is termed "development" is, in fact, analogous to mugging someone incapacitated on a hospital bed. Horrific. Brave. Important.
Review by Cameron Lee ★★★★

Imperialism at its finest.
Review by sebasta ★★★★

La hipocresía del colonialismo. Mi propia hipocresía, evidenciada bajo la superficie.
Review by Luis M. Monterrubio

Todos los terribles males que trae el capitalismo y el colonialismo/imperialismo bajo la noción de 'iluminar' a las regiones que 'más desesperadamente lo necesitan' y sin embargo solo crean más conflicto con el ya de por sí pueden cargar.
Review by sailordanae ★★★★

Film #1 of March Around the World 2020
Country: South Sudan
A powerful indictment of colonialism, as seen through the lives and words of the South Sudanese people. Touches on every aspect by which the people are colonized - through the extraction of raw materials, the selloff of land (as well as leasing agreements that may as well be sales), the eviction of the people from their traditional grounds or from the useage of that land (real Christian of you, missionaries), the imposition of Christian religion and it's attendent religious shame, the elimination of native tradition, the destruction and degredation of land and water, the dumping of trash and unwanted goods.
The title is pure irony, as no one has…
Review by John Guerin ★★★★½

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggWyUEuGcWY
Review by ScHoolboyQt ★★★★

You want to get angry? This'll get you angry.
Review by sinreglaniborra ★★★★½

this is the first documentary about colonialism that is not so evidently biased and selfindulgent. sauper doesn't allow his oeuvre to fall in the old manichaeism of capitalism bad vs. socialist good or USA bad vs. other first world potencies (russia, china, france) good. greed comes from industrialized countrys, but it's allso present in the rulers of the victimized nations.
most important, sauper doesn't treat his subjects like inferiors or ignorants. in fact, it shows how these people feel and think like human beings, innocent but highly intelligent human beings. saupoer doesn't pull any punches, while showing the process of indoctrination of christian church in these "god-forsaken" lands: their naked bodies are forcefully dressed with clothes and shame, their traditions are mocked, shamed and utterly criminalized. they are robbed of their innocence, they're robbed of their land, their're robbed of their past and, also, their future.
Review by brianpayne

RSVP
Review by Kevin Almroth ★★★

"The British established the constitution of Sudan. They carried bibles in their right hand, and they carried guns in their left hand."
Review by Terēze ★★★★

What a great place to watch this film- at the old Riga Circus buildings horse stable.
Review by Vladimir

“Let me tell you that people such as Europeans and Americans, went away from home and began to colonize other places, which they took by force. There was a lot of fighting and they divided Africa into sections: like Sudan, Uganda, Nigeria, etc. And later they called them “free nations”. After that, they went high into space and took the moon! Did you know that the moon belongs to the white man?
Did you know that the moon belongs to the white man?
Did you know that the moon belongs to the white man?
Did you know that the moon belongs to the white man?
Did you know that the moon belongs to the white man?
Did you know that…