I think the biggest thing that stuck out to me in this movie was the culture shock that each of the boys went through. In their culture everyone is a family. They all are welcoming and if you don’t know someone new you are just as likely to let them in your home as you are a family member. When they went to America they expected the same type of hospitality, but they were met with the opposite. One of the boys worked at a grocery store and one day he saw a women crying. People instead of stopping and helping her would just walk by like nothing was wrong. He then went over and asked her what was wrong because in his culture everyone cares about everyone. Another example of this was when the store owner called the police because he wasn’t comfortable with them entering his shop in such large numbers. This could also be tied to race, but for the lost boys they didn’t understand. Their whole lives they traveled as one group and now they are not allowed. To them America seemed very unwelcoming.
I believe that as human beings we have the responsibility to help others in their time of need. In America we are a stable country and do not have as bad of problems or at least problems that we cannot take care of ourselves. Why not help people in need when we easily can? In the Sudan culture they will help anyone in need and they are the ones that have the least. For example almost every dollar the lost boys made they sent back to help their family. At one point they were getting calls from people asking for help and even when they had nothing the found as much as they could and sent it away. They would do anything they could for people they don’t know even when they have nothing at all for themselves.
I think that this is a persuasive essay. The idea that they are trying to get across is that there are people out there that need help and they want to inform people about them. They don’t just go out and say you should help these people, but they show you all the struggles the Sudan people have gone through. I feel like they try and put you for a guilt trip. They don’t directly tell you to donate money or to send things to help them but I think they try and feel so bad that you go out and look for ways to help them yourself. Another great tool they used was just the documentary in itself. They showed with just a little help these boys can come to America and become successful. Most of them made the best out of what they did and work extremely hard to make a better life for not only themselves but their families too.
