Sudan, Remember Us
(France, Tunisia, Qatar, 78 min.)
Dir. Hind Meddeb
Program: TIFF Docs (North American Premiere)
Getting deep inside the story does wonders for a documentary. Determined to evoke the resilience and passion of young people fighting against religious tyranny and for democracy, director Hind Meddeb (Paris Stalingrad) embeds herself in a community of Sudanese activists. And she succeeds in her mission with a film that’s both upsetting and inspirational.
It begins with visions of a seemingly abandoned Khartoum in 2023. The streets are strewn with garbage, buildings are rundown and crudely graffitied, and there is not a soul in sight. With the sounds of gunfire and explosives resonating in the background, it becomes clear that this is a war zone. The setting then shifts back to 2019 Khartoum. Massive celebratory demonstrations have taken over the streets, where demonstrators, many of them creating art – murals, poetry, rap – and impassioned speechmakers charge up the crowd.
They are cheering the fall of dictator Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the country for 30 years, thanks to a series of rigged elections. Four years ago, these imaginative demonstrators envisioned a future where there will be a citizens’ government in a country that controls its own economy: Sudan is rich in minerals that foreign nations have been mining thanks to years-old deals with a dictator on the take. Meddeb harnesses that citizen-forward philosophy by letting everyday people tell the story. This is powerful filmmaking that gives voice to a population that has been consistently ignored by international media.
For most of the first half of the doc, charismatic celebrants share their opinions, with a focus on characters Maha, Shajane, Muzamil and Khattab, whose chants are especially impressive. But all four are wholly compelling. Another woman declares that the authoritarian imams who wear designer clothes were the epitome of corruption. And they don’t want to hear women’s voices unless the women are declaring, “God is great.” The theme that echoes strongest throughout the participants’ declarations is, “We won’t be silenced.”
This was a time of great hope for the Sudanese, anxious to see profound changes in their country. The plan was to let the military rule for 18 months and follow that regime with a citizen’s government. But the military never stood down and, instead, civil war broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in April of 2023. It was a vicious conflict, killing upwards of 19,000 Sudanese.
Meddeb mined her close contacts in Khartoum to find her subjects. She went to Sudan from France knowing many of the activists, who trusted her enough to be open and to keep her protected in dangerous situations. All hasn’t been settled. Police still try to break up the gatherings, often violently in sequences that are brutal and upsetting.
But whose police are they? Who are these Rapid Support Forces battling the Sudanese Armed Forces and what do they represent? It’s not easy to give meaningful context to what are doubtless complex issues, especially in a film that tends to take an observational stance aside from the direct-address monologues of its participants. But two simple written paragraphs superimposed over some of the action could have provided an anchor for an audience who will leave this documentary grasping for more understanding of the situation.
