The Devil Came On Horseback (2007)
Break Thru Films

Description

Using the exclusive photographs and first hand testimony of former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle, the film goes on an emotionally charged journey into the heart of Darfur, Sudan, where in 2004, Steidle became witness to a genocide that to-date has claimed over 400,000 lives. As an official military observer, Steidle had access to parts of the country that no journalist could penetrate. Unprepared for what he would witness and experience, Steidle returned to the U.S. armed with his photographs, intent on exposing the images and stories of lives systematically destroyed.

Tags

Sudan, Darfur, Genocide

Collected reviews and ratings

9.0 DVD Verdict | Franck Tabouring

The Devil Came on Horseback is a fascinating, though incredibly shocking, experience. The film's 85 minutes pass swiftly, and it totally captivates everybody interested in learning more about the terrifying conflict in Darfur.
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9.0 Salon.com | Andrew O'Hehir

This shouldn't be a competitive sport or anything, but I'm pretty sure that Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern's documentary "The Devil Came on Horseback" has the most horrifying images I have ever seen in a motion picture.
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9.0 New York Times | Manohla Dargis

Brutal, urgent, devastating — the documentary “The Devil Came on Horseback” demands to be seen as soon as possible and by as many viewers as possible.
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9.0 Amazon user reviews

I didn't know very much about the genocide in Darfur until I saw this movie. It changed my life.
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8.3 digitallyobsessed.com | Dan Heaton

The Devil Came on Horseback is not the type of film you should choose for a casual night of movie-watching. However, this documentary should be enlightening if you’re interested in world issues, and it could motivate audiences to act.
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8.3 The Onion A.V. Club | Scott Tobias

These images and reports have stirred consciences without quite stirring decisive action, and an earnest indie doc like this one seems like another cry in the wilderness.
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8.0 Variety | Robert Koehler

Since Steidle, armed only with his camera, became an unexpected recorder of ethnic cleansing, his work is uniquely suited to the purposes of documakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern.
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8.0 filmcritic.com | Chris Barsanti

The Devil Came on Horseback is more than a great film, it's also the rare kind of non-fiction film that can actually open eyes. It should be burned onto thousands of DVDs and simply handed out on street corners to anybody saying, "I don't really get what this whole Darfur thing is about."
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6.3 TV Guide | Ken Fox

Steidle too often reduces this complicated knot of Arab nationalism, Islamic fundamentalism, African geopolitics and age-old tribal conflicts down to a simple matter of one group of people killing another because of the color of their skin. If it were only that simple.
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6.0 BBC | Matt McNally

The images caught by Steidle's camera will stay with you long after his personal story - given too much time in relation to events - has faded from memory.
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