Pray the Devil Back to Hell (Summer 2008)

Women Warriors: The film tells the story of women who fought for peace in Liberia

In 1997, the former warlord Charles Taylor became president of Liberia, unleashing one of those ''civil wars'' that's really a euphemism for chaos, mass murder, an end of civilization. More than 250,000 were killed, but the cycle of slaughter was faced down by a cadre of women who launched a Gandhi-esque crusade — and lo, it worked. Gini Reticker's simply made, affecting documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell reveals how these heroic ordinary women prodded the factions to peace and literally brought down Taylor, a leader of sociopathic cruelty. B+