On Rwanda

The greatest challenge of the art of film is to help us share the human experience of people unknown to us. This is never nobler than with the examination and exposure of the tragedy of genocide. What happened in Rwanda in 1994 will no doubt be the subject of original work for decades, but three outstanding films are already testament to the horrors of that summer.
They are all excellent. They are all very difficult for those of us with conscience to watch.

Hotel Rwanda is perhaps the best known - it garnered three Academy Award nominations and was probably the first that many oblivious Americans had heard of the whole event. It is my least favorite for two obvious reasons; first, it wasn't filmed in Rwanda and second, because most of the film is contained in the grounds of the hotel, it was limited in scope. Don Cheadle was wonderful, and it also boasted Nick Nolte and Joaquin Phoenix.

HBO Films did a better job with Sometimes in April. They managed to film in Rwanda and used a lot of native talent although the principals are still American or British, ( the only big name was Debra Winger.) However, with this story we follow a family as it fragments and this brings home the power of the tragedy - families torn apart, neighbors turning on neighbors etc. This film also does a great job of pointing out the power of propaganda on a population steeped in fear.

But the best of the trilogy from my point of view is Beyond the Gates. A British film featuring John Hurt and Hugh Dancy, Gates was not only filmed in Rwanda but at the very site of the story, the Ecole Technique Officielle, a school run by a priest named Father Christopher. Cast and crew were largely survivors of the massacre, Belgian soldiers were played by Western expats, NGO workers and the like. All of this brings to bear an amazing authenticity. This film also frames a lot of the moral questions that the others try to soothe - what would you have done if you had been there?

All three are worth your time, but space them out or you'll run out of kleenex. But do watch. Those who forget the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them. And if you want to know more, all three websites have lots of extra information.