The Devil Came on Horseback (2007)

A documentary that exposes the genocide raging in Darfur, Sudan as seen through the eyes of a former U.S. marine who returns home to make the story public.

Directors:

Ricki Stern, Anne Sundberg

Writers:

Anne Sundberg, Ricki Stern

Stars:

Nicholas Kristof, Brian Steidle

5 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Nicholas Kristof	...	Himself - Columnist, New York Times
Brian Steidle	...	Himself

Storyline

The tragedy taking place in Darfur as seen through the eyes of an American witness and who has since returned to the US to take action to stop it. Uses the photographs and first hand testimony of former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle to take the viewer on a journey into the heart of Darfur, Sudan, where an Arab run government is systematically executing a plan to rid the province of its black African citizens. As an official military observer, Steidle had access to parts of the country that no journalist could penetrate. Ultimately frustrated by the inaction of the international community, Steidle resigned and returned to the US to expose the images and stories of lives systematically destroyed. We witness Steidle's transformation from soldier to observer to witness and, finally, to passionate activist and moral hero.

---

Plot Keywords:

darfur | sudan | genocide | african union | ex marine | 

---

Taglines:

At age 27, Brian Steidle became a monitor with the African Union in Darfur, Sudan. He was completely unprepared for what he would see.

---

Genres:

Documentary

---

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic

Release Date:

11 April 2008 (UK)

Also Known As:

Die Todesreiter von Darfur

Filming Locations:

Sudan

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$11,143 (USA) (27 July 2007)

Gross:

$132,309 (USA) (30 November 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Break Thru Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Late Show with David Letterman: Joan Rivers/Bill Burr/Steve Winwood (2010)

User Reviews

Not Again!!

A very eye opening and hard hitting experience viewing this film. I do feel that it falls short on delivering the back story and facts to truly understand exactly what is going on and why in this region. To my benefit I had already seen the film Darfur Now which does a way better job describing the where's, what's and why's of this hole situation. Darfur Now doesn't have anything close to the experiences and the photographs taken by Brian Steidle. Basically what I'm saying is that watching both these films together will give you the complete picture of this tragedy. A couple of things Brian Steidle said in this film really hit me hard, first when he described his feeling about taking pictures from the hill top over looking a village and hes says if I would have had my rifle instead of my camera I could have prevented the deaths of so many people. I can't imagine what it would feel like to have that kind of training and then be put in a situation were you can't us it to help. Second when he is speaking in front of the Darfur rally in Washington D.C. and he describes first landing in Darfur and being introduced as an American and the people all standing up and cheering. This is just one man, yet they cheer, why, because he is American, because to these people an American means hope. Wow, I could not hold back the tears, after all the latest bashing of America and our current foreign police issues, don't get me wrong we have really screwed some things up, but there are people in the world that see America as a shining ray of light. Sometimes I think the media forgets to report on all the good we do as a country, just to think that when things go bad in the world who does the world call for.