In my experience and study I have not been able to come up with any satisfying answer to the question of innocent suffering. I have noticed though that human beings are commonly the cause and the perpetuators. Where does one find hope for a better day in a climate of unhindered greed, unconstrained, hate-filled violence and the easy justification of amorality? A good start is seeing this movie. The Heart of Nuba is an exquisite documentary that somehow mines precious jewels of hope from the hard bedrock of intentionally inflicted horror. In South Sudan, people daily endure the systematic and brutal violence that results in unimaginable suffering wreaked upon them by their own indicted war criminal president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Yet, (there is always a yet) something greater is revealed in this film. We human beings always have agency to lean in the direction of upholding life, goodness, joy and even happiness. We can turn in a different direction and make a difference in our own sphere of influence.The Heart of Nuba documents precisely such a ship of hope in a sea of despair. The film chronicles Dr. Tom Catena, the only doctor at Mother of Mercy Hospital in the remote mountains of southern Sudan's Nuba Mountains. Even as aerial bombings frequently shatter small, peaceful villages, Dr. Catena tends to the sick and injured with unfettered dedication. He show us the very real connection that transcends all boundaries to our common humanity and the inherent dignity. He lives a life that lifts up everyone's self-worth beyond personal safety, the love of others over personal wealth or societal success. He lives as if the Gospel is actually true and that there really is a living God who truly cares every bit as much for the poor and disenfranchised.Filmmaker Kenneth Carlson has woven together a complex and dramatic story about how hope endures as the indomitable power over injustice. Dr. Tom demonstrates how hope can never be defeated as long as we continue to do all that we can to advance the cause of justice, advocacy, and dignity for all who suffer. It seems to me that Carlson has brought to light this story as a call to action. In a time of darkness, fear and poisonous rhetoric, each of us must be compelled to find our true vocation and live it fully no matter where our lives unfold. I urge everyone to see this film and discover that we all have the power and agency to overcome the darkest of evils. You will be changed.

An inspiring and enlightening portrait of a Catholic doctor in Africa serving over a million people every year

Absorbingly, unfussily captures Catena's daily challenges and feats while also painting a vivid, often heartbreaking portrait of a forgotten people trapped in an underreported sociopolitical nightmare.

The Heart of Nuba is remarkable, to me, for Carlson's ability to show how a Catholic layman lives his faith in a world of conflict with almost no humanitarian aid and is able to support his team's efforts to help the sick, wounded and dying.

A most down-to-earth saint presented in the most refreshingly candid manner.

The Heart of Nuba delivers a moving but thankfully not overly sentimental portrait of this admirable figure.

The film is worth seeing because it's a moving and remarkable story and it represents a great cause.

The only surgeon for hundreds of miles, Tom Catena earns $350 a month but given his dedication to the poor people in Sudan's Nuba mountains, he should be nominated for sainthood.

If Catena has flaws, filmmaker Kenneth Carlson declines to feature them, perhaps because they've been friends since their Brown University days thirty years ago. Still, the doctor has earned the adulation, and a visit to a leper colony shows why.

Unlike many documentaries about endemic catastrophes in the Third World and the outsiders doing their best to help, this movie doesn't just have a hero. It has a villain.

A sober-minded, uplifting portrait of righteous doctor who heals the wounded and the sick in the middle of a Sudanese genocide