A naked boy with a plastic bottle meanders down a dirt road, unaware of the cruel history of his land and unprepared for its future. Spears are traded for Kalashnikovs. Foreigners drill for oil, children sing in the dust. Missionaries hand out solar-powered audio Bibles. And as twilight descends over the grasslands, a tribal chief has tears in his eyes after selling his riches for a pittance.
"We Come as Friends" is a visceral journey into how colonialism, globalization and corruption have spoiled much of Africa. Directed by Hubert Sauper, the documentary is a catalog of injustices — some born out of naiveté, but most by design — that have overrun South Sudan, the world's most endangered nation since the day it won independence from Sudan in 2011.