Reese Witherspoon's New Movie Sheds Light on US Lives of Sudan's Lost Boys

The Oscar winner plays a counselor tasked with finding them jobs.

ByABC News
September 18, 2014, 7:00 PM

— -- Reese Witherspoon's latest campaign has taken the famous actress who has appeared in such movies as "Legally Blonde" and won an Oscar for "Walk the Line" far from the glamor of Hollywood.

"It was one of those things where I was like, 'I can't not do this movie 'cause it's so important to me," Witherspoon told ABC News.

Witherspoon's new movie, "The Good Lie," tells the story of the Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan, orphaned children who walked thousands of miles, without food or shelter, to escape the civil war in 1983.

Fifteen years later, a humanitarian effort brought 3,600 Lost Boys and Girls to the US to start new lives.

"The Good Lie," set to be released Oct. 3, is inspired by the children's stories as well as the UN program that brought them to the US. The actors playing the Lost Boys were either Lost Boys themselves or descendants of Lost Boys and all of them fled Africa for the US or UK as children.

"The Good Lie" producers launched a fund this month to help raise monies for those in the Kakuma refugee camp, which Witherspoon visited in 2013 with her daughter during the filming.

“it was very illuminating for a kid from America, seeing people sleep on concrete slabs and children running around, trying to find food.” Witherspoon told ABC News’ anchor Amy Robach. “They don't have their churches, they don't have their schooling, they don't have their community, and many people have lost their entire family."

Click here for more information on the Good Lie Fund.

In the film, Witherspoon plays a tough-talking employment counselor who is assigned to find the Lost Boys jobs when they first reach the US.

Some of Witherspoon's costars lived that hardship, including Emmanuel Jal, a hip hop artist and former child soldier.

"This is the story of my home," Jal said. "This is the voice of those who was not heard."

PHOTO: Emmanuel Jal, an escaped Sudanese child soldier, is an acclaimed hip-hop artist and human rights advocate.  He stars in "The Good Lie," which features songs from his album "The Key."
Emmanuel Jal was a Sudanese child soldier who escaped and went on to become a well-known hip-hop artist before starring in "The Good Lie." He is a spokesman for the Make Poverty History campaign and the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. Two songs from Jal's new album, "The Key," are heard on "The Good Lie" soundtrack.
PHOTO: Ger Duany's  journey has taken him from child refugee to international fashion model and the lead in "The Good Lie."  He recently returned to Africa to search for his family in refugee camps.
Ger Duany came to America in 1994 at age 15. His journey from child refugee to international fashion model and actor starring in "The Good Lie" is the subject of a documentary "Ger: To Be Separate." He recently went back to South Sudan, reuniting with his mother and family members who are living in refugee camps after fleeing the latest civil war.

"The Good Lie" is not just about where the Lost Boys started, though; it's also about how far so many have come.

On Wednesday night, former Lost Boys Thon Chol, Kuol Awan, John Dau and Moses Ajou, as well as several others, were honored during a special gala and congressional screening of the movie. The gala also helped raised nearly $400,000 for the Good Lie Fund, with all monies going to the Kakuma camp.

Chol, a former Senate intern, works for the government of Washington, D.C., and is a leader in the Lost Boys community, and more broadly as a refugee advocate. Awan fled Sudan in 1987. He now lives in Phoenix, Arizona, serving as executive director of The Lost Boys Center for Leadership Development in Phoenix.

Dau fled Sudan in 1987 and resettled in Syracuse, New York, in 2001, and is now the president of John Dau Foundation. And Ajou joined the U.S. Air Force and served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

PHOTO: John Dau fled Sudan in 1987 and remained at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya from 1992 to 2001.
John Dau fled Sudan in 1987 and remained at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya from 1992 to 2001. He resettled to Syracuse, New York, in 2001, and worked jobs to earn an associate's degree and then bachelor's at Syracuse University. Dau is the president of John Dau Foundation, which with the help of the Syracuse community, established the Duk Lost Boys Clinic in John's home village in Jonglei State.
PHOTO: Moses Ajou resettled from the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya in 2001 to Chelsea, Massachusetts.
Moses Ajou resettled from the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya in 2001 to Chelsea, Massachusetts. He studied public policy and economics at the University of New Hampshire and graduated with a B.A. in 2006. Ajou joined the U.S. Air Force and served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is the assistant director at South Sudanese Enrichment for Families, a nonprofit that works with resettled South Sudanese refugees and their families in Massachusetts.
PHOTO: At the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, Thon Chol worked as a counselor and teacher.
At the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, Thon Chol worked as a counselor and teacher. He moved to Michigan in 2000. Chol graduated from Western Michigan University and received an master's in social work. Chol, a former Senate intern, works as for the government of Washington, D.C., and is a leader in the Lost Boys community, and more broadly as a refugee advocate. He is also an ordained minister.
PHOTO: Kuol Awan fled Sudan in 1987 and resettled from Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp in 2001 to Salt Lake City, Utah.
Kuol Awan fled Sudan in 1987 and resettled from Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp in 2001 to Salt Lake City, Utah. He now lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and has a bachelor's degree as well as a master's. He serves as executive director of The Lost Boys Center for Leadership Development in Phoenix. He is happily married with two children.

At the gala reception and screening in Washington Wednesday night, these former Lost Boys and others from South Sudan were recognized for their work in the US in a speech by Sasha Chanoff, the founder of the nonprofit RefugePoint.

"They have all become US citizens and are now an essential part of this grand American family," said Chanoff, who has worked with the Lost Boys for 15 years. "They show us that against all odds and in the face of impossible hardship and horror, the human spirit is made up of unbreakable matter."

Witherspoon said that was the message she hoped would hit home in the film.

"They've been through so much as little children and that they had an opportunity to come to America and that they will work three and four jobs just to pay for an education that we take for granted every single day. ... It's incredible, you know? It really makes you appreciate the opportunities that we have as Americans," she said.