Good Lie, The (Blu-ray)

…comes the title to this very good film. Huck Finn, along the Mississippi River, told the “good lie,” in order to protect his friend Jim, from the slavers. That fact is brought out half-way through the movie, in an English class in which Mamere, admirably played by Arnold Oceng, is enrolled, in part, to learn the American culture. Fittingly, Mamere is learning this lesson in a quintessential city of the American heartland: Kansas City, Missouri.I was fearful that this movie would be in “black and white,” the “innocent civilians” fleeing the evil and cruel rulers, for the glorious sanctuary that is America. It is far from that simplistic, with plenty of nuance, and therefore deserves much merit (and viewership). It was directed by Philippe Falardeau and released in 2014.It commences with the Sudanese Civil war of 1983. The background and the particulars are not provided; there are two disturbing images of the Vietnam War imposed on the Sudan: the Huey helicopters attacking civilian villages and the torching of thatched-roofed hovels. No doubt this really happened, again. A major fault-line in the Sudan is between the Islamic north and the Christian south and that is the principal impetus to the war. The fleeing children carry a Bible with them. Also unmentioned in the movie is the fact that as a result of the civil war, the southern portion of the Sudan broke away and formed its own country, which was recognized in 2011, the Republic of South Sudan (also unmentioned is the fact that within the new country, there is fighting among Christian tribal factions).With their parents killed, in 1987, thousands of boys (and some girls) fled the area, initially for Ethiopia, where they were not welcomed, and then to Kenya, where they were interned in a refugee camp. They had to walk 785 miles to the Kenya border, with very little supplies, and obtaining good drinking water was always a problem. On the way, they lost half of the original eight in the group. One estimate of the size of the camp that was given in the movie is 100,000 people, though obviously that fluctuated. The remaining four children would grow up in the camp, waiting 13 years before being selected as part of a group of 3600 who would be relocated as refugees to the United States. They’d be known as the “Lost Boys of the Sudan,” even though one was a girl.The real strength of this movie was the portrayal of what happens when they arrive in the United States. For well-intentioned bureaucratic reasons, the woman is separated from her three brothers, and sent to Boston. Well-meaning people, including church people since these are Christians, try to help, but are generally clueless about their prior lives. Imagine having to explain how a light-switch worked, since they had never seen one. Not to mention a LOT of other aspects of American life, good and bad, that we take for granted. They also have a “black mark” on their record, since they come from a country that has an official designation, by the State Department, of “supporting terrorism.” The fact they fled such a country is not a plus.The movie goes on to portray their successful integration into American society, or NOT. All, of course, start with low wage jobs, inadvertently helping to suppress the wages of the poor, which is a key reason, on the dark side, of why the powers-that-be like unskilled immigrants, packaging their like as humanitarian concerns.Though the initial events in this movie commenced almost four decades ago, it is a movie for our times as a new wave of refugees – from Afghanistan – reach our shores, complementing the waves hitting our southern border. There are numerous areas of the world in which there are wars, often so-called “civil” in nature, generating literally millions of displaced persons. And there are at least two billion people living severely impoverished lives in slums without running water, proper sewage treatment, no medical care et al., who all could claim that they are fleeing, at least economic injustice, and want to be treated as refugees.There is no national consensus on immigration and what a reasonable number of immigrants a year might be, acknowledging that there is a definite downside to increasing America’s population, in a very overpopulated world of humans. Indeed, we strongly prefer not even to talk about it, thereby making even a plausible consensus impossible.5-stars for a good movie that can serve as an entrée to that conversation.

The preview is deceiving making you think this is a light hearted movie about a superficial and naive American woman taking in refugees. This is the true story of Somalian refugee children caught in a horrific war and left as orphans, thus much deeper than that. t goes into the war and the painful losses they experience. It's sad. Then as these tribal young adults come here, the culture shock of America and modernization. I love the story and love encouraging people to learn about the real stories of refugees. I love that America brings in people who may otherwise die due to their faith. We cannot invite refugees in and hope someone else takes care of them. We all can help in big ways like hosting them in our homes, hiring them, etc. But there is a cost to helping it's naive to think there are simple solutions or that we should take everyone one in. Many refugees also want to go back and help their nations once it's safe. This is a warm hearted story that everyone can watch. It's also not anti American which we appreciated.

Everyone should watch this movie and try to imagine yourself moving to another culture. Refugees around the world need friends who will act as cultural interpreters. They need to be shown libraries, parks, thrift stores and discount grocery stores. They need to be invited to celebrate holidays with neighbors. In the end, we think that we are helping them, but in truth they are helping us by making our lives richer and fuller.

UPDATE: I chatted with an Amazon CS agent and we came to an agreeable solution — more than fair to me. Amazon refunded the cost and allowed me to keep the disc. On a whim, I decided to try the expired code (expired by more than 4 years) on MoviesAnywhere and, much to my surprise, it worked!! I contacted Amazon to try to return the refund and they wanted me to keep it "as a goodwill gesture." There is obviously no guarantee that an expired code for a digital copy will work, but it doesn't hurt to try … I wish I had tried before contacting Customer Service. However, every time I have contacted Customer Service, they have been very helpful.ORIGINAL: I really like the movie, "The Good Lie." It portrays, quite accurately, how so ethno-centric so many of us are. We assume that refugees will understand so much about our culture because "everybody knows about that." It's a great resource for people who have agreed to host refugees.The description of this product was just flat wrong. It was supposed to be a multi-format product — Blu-ray, DVD, and digital. I received both the Blu-ray and DVD. There was an insert in the package with a code for the Digital HD through UltraViolet. UltraViolet has shut down and the code has already expired on December 23, 2017. (The product description says: "Digital Copy Notice: The purchase of this DVD or Blu-ray disc comes with rights to access a complimentary digital version from the production company. To access the digital copy, redeem the code included in your product packaging before the expiration date."Amazon should do a better job of monitoring sellers.

Worth watching. It can’t be overlooked, that the refugees were incredibly considerate and respectful of God, of each other, yet generally were also some of the poorest people who found themselves in a life threatening situation The film places you in their shoes, and once you r in them a while you understand completely the difficulties they incur...and even laughter is shared t/o this movie. I loved how these guys were respectful of boundaries which made me consider that although we have "life” in common, our vast differences sometimes makes good people more desirable friendships.. Our differences can be interesting, fun, and informative.

This does not sound like the premise for a feelgood story, during the conflict in the second Sudanese civil war thousands of children are left orphaned and some 3600 were selected for resettlement in America.These lost boys will become the main focus of a film starring Reece Witherspoon who is as always superb and loses herself in the role effortlessly but she is upstaged by the boys who are really now men, despite a small section of the story for one of them being about drug addiction it really is a very small step that still feels truthful to the reality of life in America.It is in no way a spoiler to say that these weary former child soldiers become wide eyed innocents in America and take to the country well if not a little confused by customs and ideals strange to them, the story is funny, touching, and sometimes weighted down by the immense sadness of what has come before, you are willing these boys to succeed and the ending provides closure and a sucker punch you are not expecting.Arnold Oceng, Ger Duany and Emmanuel Jal as Mamere, Jeremiah and Paul respectively are immense and leave you hoping to see more of their story and the way it unfolds, you can seek out the documentary which covers the conflict in far more detail if you wish but it is infinitely more depressing and challenging to watch.

Love reeve Witherspoon. Love the film

Story (5)Während des sudanesischen Bürgerkrieges wird ein kleines Bauerndorf im Südsudan angegriffen und die Bewohner getötet. Einer kleinen Gruppe von Kindern gelingt die Flucht.Theo und Mamere, deren Schwester Abital sowie Paul und Jeremia, sind nun alleine auf sich gestellt und versuchen zu Fuss ins sichere Kenia zu gelangen. Unterwegs werden sie von Soldaten entdeckt. Nur dem selbstlosen Einsatz Theos ist es zu verdanken, dass der Rest der Gruppe unbeschadet davon kommt. Diesen gelingt schliesslich die Flucht in ein Flüchtlingslager nach Kenia.Dreizehn Jahre später gewinnt die Gruppe ein Ticket für ein neues Leben in den USA. Dort eingetroffen, werden sie von Carrie Davis empfangen, die ihnen Jobs vermitteln soll. Schnell wird klar, dass dies nicht so einfach ist. Die Vergangenheit holt die traumatisierten Flüchtlinge immer wieder ein. Als sie sich einigermassen in der fremden Welt eingelebt haben, erreicht sie ein Brief aus Kenia – der grosse Bruder Theo scheint noch am Leben zu sein…„The Good Lie“ behandelt ein brandaktuelles Thema und tut dies mit viel Einfühlungsvermögen und, trotz aller Dramatik, angenehm zurückhaltend. Das ist in erster Linie der wunderbaren darstellerischen Leistung aller beteiligten Schauspieler zu danken. Selbst Reese Witherspoon spielt sehr zurückhaltend und lässt den eigentlichen Hauptdarstellern Raum, um ihre Figuren zu entwickeln.Natürlich gibt es die eine oder andere Ecke in der Story, die ein bisschen zu rund geraten ist. Bei einem derart komplexen Stoff kann man aber in 110 Minuten kaum tiefer und nuancierter erzählen, als dies hier geschieht.Alles in allem ist „The Good Lie“ ein bewegendes und mitreissendes Filmdrama, das nachdenklich stimmt. Zudem besitzt der Film den Vorzug, gut zu unterhalten ohne den realistischen Hintergrund zu verfälschen oder oberflächlich zu wirken. Ein beeindruckender Streifen!Bild (5)Das Bildseitenverhältnis liegt in 1.85:1 (13:7 US-WideScreen) vor.Der Schärfegrad ist über den ganzen Film hinweg auf beeindruckendem Level. Bei Close Ups ist jedes Detail zu erkennen und auch bei Weitwinkelaufnahmen wird immer noch eine beachtliche Detailtreue geboten. Das ist umso erfreulicher, da es sehr viele wunderschöne Landschaftsaufnahmen zu bestaunen gibt.Die Farben wirken kräftig und natürlich. Der Schwarzwert ist hervorragend und die Kontraste können voll und ganz überzeugen.Kurz, ein super HD-Bild, an dem es nichts auszusetzen gibt!Ton (5)Das deutsche Tonformat liegt in DTS-High Resolution 5.1 vor.Auch die Tonumsetzung weiss zu beeindrucken. Die Dynamik während der Kriegsszenen ist äusserst gut und realistisch ausgefallen. Zudem wird eine räumliche Abmischung geboten, wie ich sie bis jetzt nur ganz selten in so perfekter Form angetroffen habe. Die Dialoge sind jederzeit bestens zu verstehen und die Tonbalance ist ebenfalls ausgezeichnet.Auch beim HD-Ton eine perfekte Umsetzung, die kaum besser hätte ausfallen können.Extras (3)Habe ich mir nicht angesehen. Es gibt ein WendeCover!Fazit: Einer der besten Filme, die ich seit langem gesehen habe und das mit perfekter technischer Blu-ray-Umsetzung. Klare Empfehlung von meiner Seite!

...immerhin nehmen die USA keine Flüchtlinge auf... Schon gar nicht aus Ländern, die sie selbst ausbeuten.Außerdem würde ich mir wünschen, dass Deutschland mehr von dieser Art Flüchtling abbekommt.Die Menschen in diesem Film sind für beide Seiten eine Bereicherung. Der Film bietet Spaß, Drama und gute Ideen am Fließband und hat mich sehr gut unterhalten. Ein Schulungsfilm für beide Seiten.

Anfangs war ich etwas verwirrt, was der Titel bedeuten sollte. Doch wird auch das am Ende aufgeklärt. "The good Lie" ist ein sehr eindringliches, interessantes FLüchtlingsdrama über eine Gruppe Flüchtlinge, die aus Afrika in die USA kommen und hier einige Probleme haben, sich an die neue Kultur zu gewöhnen. Durchaus ein interessanter Film, insbesonders angesichts der letzten Flüchtlingswellen. Es ist leicht, zu verurteilen, aber es ist wichtig zu sehen, was für ein Kulturschock es für Menschen bedeuten kann, in den Westen zu kommen.Sehr gut gespielt, sehr interessant, sehr emotional. Klare Empfehlung!