From 1983 to 2005 the Second Sudanese Civil War saw millions of innocent people killed and just as many displaced, with the term “Lost Boys of Sudan” being coined to acknowledge thousands of children living in refugee camps in Africa. Now the new film The Good Lie is a fictionalized account that sheds light on a group of grown up “Lost Boys” sent to live in America during the lottery system of the early 2000s.
In the film, Reese Witherspoon is a Kansas City employment agency counselor assigned to find jobs for three refugees separated from their sister and most definitely fish out of water. As they adjust to life in the US, they encounter challenges to their way of life that a job, food and shelter cannot fix.
We had the chance to talk to Corey Stoll (“The Strain,” Ant-Man) and Sarah Baker (“Louie”) about their characters who aid the refugees but never succumb to the “white savior” cliche. We also talked to Arnold Oceng, Ger Duany and Kuoth Wiel, who play the refugees–and were, in fact, refugees themselves–about how the film mirrors their real life struggles. Screenwriter Margaret Nagle was also on hand to talk about staying true to the Lost Boys’ story and keeping their characters front and center.
