The Rwandan genocide in 1993-4 was the horrific culmination of long-standing conflict between the Hutus and the Tutsis.  Perhaps even more horrific than the death of hundreds of thousands of innocents is the knowledge that the rest of the world stood by and did nothing to stop this massacre.  Peacekeeping forces were present, had been for some time, but their hands were tied.  Those in command at the United Nations National Security Council refused to grant their peacekeeping forces the right to keep the peace.  Instead, they were commanded to lay down their weapons.  This did not sit well with some of the commanding officers, among them Canadian Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire. 

When his pleas for the innocents fell on deaf ears, Lieutenant-General Dallaire took matters into his own hands.  As a military man, he knew he would be court-marshalled for refusing to submit to his superiors’ commands, but his conscience and humanity were such that he had no choice but to do what he felt was his job there—to keep the peace, to protect the innocents whom he felt responsible for and who depended on him for their very lives. 

Based on the book by Lieutenant-General Dallaire himself, the movie Shake Hands With The Devil is told from the general’s point of view and gives a fascinating account of the rising tension within the country and the frustration, anger and helplessness of Dallaire and fellow United Nations peacekeepers forced to stand by while a horrific massacre took place.

Roy Dupuis gives a remarkable doppelganger performance as Canadian Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire, all the more effective for it being so understated.  The audience cannot help but feel this man’s frustration and helplessness, as well as his anger and disgust with those in command who wilfully turned a blind eye, governments that protected and, in some cases, abetted the guilty (some warlords found a haven for themselves and their families in Europe, most notably Belgium and France), and other governments who couldn’t be bothered (the US had no pressing self-interest like oil or war-profiteering to warrant entering the melee and, in any case, was too captivated by the media coverage of O.J. Simpson at the time). 

Director Roger Spottiswoode captures well the tension that surrounded both the Rwandans and the peacekeeping forces. The use of original locales and locals helped immeasurably with the sense of verisimilitude.  It is also refreshing to see that no-one has shied away from assigning blame to powerful, so-called, First World countries. 

Focusing on one man’s crisis of conscience within the greater landscape of horror and violence could have easily devolved to melodrama, but such is Dupuis’ talent and Spottiswoode’s light touch that all the audience sees is the humanity of one man trying desperately to do the right thing.  That this man is a military man, in whom taking orders is inculcated, for whom refusing orders spells the dishonourable end of a career, makes it all the more poignant. 

A devastating story frankly, at times, powerfully told, Shake Hands With The Devil is a cinematic experience that will horrify, inform, and outrage you.  

[P.S. This is an entry to CaptainD's Good Movies Write-Off.]
  
 
INTERESTING FACTS 

There is an Emmy-winning documentary film titled Shake Hands With The Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire, by Peter Raymont.

In the movie Hotel Rwanda, in which a Rwandan (played by Don Cheadle) protects a thousand Tutsis and moderate Hutus from being slaughtered by Hutu extremists, Lieutenant-General Dallaire’s character is played by Nick Nolte.

The UN National Security Council refused to name the bloody conflict in Rwanda genocide, as by doing so, they will be automatically putting into process a series of relief plans, a state of affairs that did not sit well with many countries at the time. 

Ironically, there were no distinctions among the Rwandans until the Belgian colonists utilized the age-old ruse of divide-and-conquer, arbitrarily classifying one race into so-called Hutus and Tutsis and favouring one over the other, thereby engendering hatred within one people.

The Rwandan genocide has been compared to the ethnic cleansing of the former Yugoslavia and even the Holocaust.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older