An action-packed slog

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

When he finished in the field with the US Marines, Captain Brian Steidle turns away from a desk job on his way up the ranks and instead takes a job as a military observer of the ceasefire in Sudan. The access he is able to have within the country ultimately leads him to be in no doubt that he is seeing Government-backed genocide against the African citizens of Darfur. With no weapon but his reports and his photographs, Steidle charts all that he sees in villages razed to the ground. This film charts his growing frustration at the lack of movement that this approach seems to create.Normally I would criticise those who praise a film for its subject rather than judge it on the basis of the film itself. Normally this film would be one of those and on these terms I would not be as kind to it as it really deserves. The reasons for this are clear from watching the film because really it could have been better structured and delivered. I thought the film would use Steidle as a device to explore the subject but somehow it tends to make him the subject too many times for my liking. This is a niggling irritation and it is not helped that the delivery of the subject is structured around his experiences – which is not always the most effective way of doing it because it does not build the case in the manner that would be most impacting and informative.Having said that though, it is difficult to watch the film and not be moved and sickened because of the subject and because most viewers will have seen so little of what is happening in Darfur. The photographs are disturbing and graphic. Whether it be charred remains or humans with eyes gouged out, it is not easy to sit and watch without reaction. The lack of intervention is also difficult to watch and this is the one aspect that the focus on Steidle contributes to well because he feels the frustration firsthand.Overall then this is a compelling and sickening film but it is nearly despite the film, not because of it. The structure is not strong enough and the focus on Steidle distracts and detracts as much as it adds – it should have used him more as a way in rather than the centrepiece of the film but these are minor complaints versus the shocking truths that the film puts in front of us. The images are sickening, so is the lack of action and the exposure the film gives to the subject is worthy of praise and makes this worth seeing even if it could have been better.

"The Devil Came on Horseback" (2007): Documentary. This is an up close and personal look at the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, including those dead, tortured and raped, those who did it, those who supported it, and those who watched it happen. This is a sad, frustrating, and grisly document made by a man who sort of "stumbled onto" his dedication to help bring this ongoing issue into harsh international light. It's not that this hasn't happened before – it has. But here it is again, and this documentary doesn't give you the "Abstract Out" some do. One man rolled up his sleeves and caused this horror to be known to the world. I suggest you see it. You won't like it, but you'll also know you live an easy and safe life by comparison, and if you can, you might share some of your comfort with someone who has none.

I watched this documentary with my 14 year old son and we both cried. What an atrocity, what a shame that this is happening while we are all celebrating Xmas. Why is nothing being done? Thank you Brian for bringing this to our attention....and shame on us if all we do is criticize how Brian made the movie!!!!! Do something folks! Do something.We started by going to the website and purchasing shirts and wristbands to be given out at my son's school.. and we are writing to the President and other officials....and we are doing our research on how best to help. Don't just write a review....save some lives. We can all do something.

The most important aspect about The Devil Came on Horseback is its images, simply for the unfortunate fact that no one, really, has seen anything properly documenting the brutality going on over there. There's been sporadic text every now and then, and even a picture or two; but, by and large, the waves in the press about Darfur are merely ankle busters compared to this film's tsunami of pictorials and video, displaying the absolute horror of that region of Sudan.The film follows Brian Steidle, a man who's entire career has been military-based. He served as a USMC captain and when he would no longer see combat, he left the military and accepted a contract position in Sudan with the Joint Military Commission, where he would be an integral part of the North-South ceasefire, rising the ranks from a team leader to senior operations officer. After seven months, he was invited to Darfur, where he would serve as an unarmed military observer and American representative for the African Union in that region. This film documents his findings as an observer.What he found was systematic ethnic-cleansing genocide. The Sudanese government was not only enabling the mass extinction of its citizens, it was controlling it. The "devil" in the title of the film are the Janjaweed, nomadic black-Arab militia groups who massacre entire villages, by exterminating its non-Arab black African inhabitants and literally burn the tribes' homes to the ground. They are "paid" in plunder and are notorious for raping their female victims, castrating their male victims and torturing them all.The Janjaweed have been more adequately equipped and become a far greater threat since non-Arab groups, the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement, have risen up against the Sudanese government, for its mistreatment of its people. Although the government of Sudan has repeatedly denied any assistance to these barbarous raiding bandits, this film has been a breakthrough of evidence, showing quite clearly the government's involvement.To really understand this film, however, is to understand its tragedy. No one is really doing anything about this. Even after Steidle came back and lobbied before congress in an effort to call the United States to action, his plethora of images and video were dismissed as nothing more than inconvenient casualties in another state-sponsored genocide that we're unwilling to involve ourselves in. Sure, they were acknowledged and Colin Powell called it what it was--a "genocide"--but there's still over 450,000 dead and counting, and 2.5 million displaced.I could describe to you the images I saw--the maiming and killing of men, women and children; their eyes gouged out and their bodies burned, castrated and mutilated--and how I reacted, emotionally with tears of hopelessness and regret, when I saw this film. But instead, I think it far more powerful for you to go see this film for yourself. Then perhaps you'll want to take action and help let our government know that you want it to take active involvement in stopping this nightmare. It's not enough to talk about it and acknowledge that it's happening--we need to take active measures in preventing the perpetuation of these government sanctioned massacres.Remember, just as you've read this review in the comfort of your own home or office or wherever, the killing in Sudan continues. And it won't stop until every last one of the non-Arab black Africans are dead, or when, and if, someone steps in and takes appropriate action to stop it.