Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire (2004)

Director:

Peter Raymont

Writer:

Roméo Dallaire (book)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

The story of Canadian Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire, and his controversial command of the United Nations mission to Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. |

Plot Keywords:

Genocide | United Nations Mission | Rwanda | United Nations | Africa

Awards:

6 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Bill Clinton	...	Himself (archive footage)
Hillary Rodham Clinton	...	Herself (archive footage)
Roméo Dallaire	...	Himself (as Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire)
Paul Kagame	...	Himself - President of Rwanda
O.J. Simpson	...	Himself - During Trial (archive footage)

Directed by
Peter Raymont

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Roméo Dallaire		book "Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda" (as Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire)

Produced by
Peter Raymont	....	producer

Original Music by
Mark Korven

Cinematography by
John Westheuser

Film Editing by
Michèle Hozer

Art Department
Gordon Hammond	....	painter

Sound Department
Ao Loo	....	sound
Steve Payne	....	sound editor
Daniel Pellerin	....	sound re-recording mixer
Jakob Thiesen	....	sound editor
Russell Walker	....	sound supervisor

Editorial Department
Hilda Rasula	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Jason Lorr	....	transfer coordinator: White Pine Pictures
Kate Russell	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• White Pine Pictures
• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)
• Société Radio-Canada

Distributors

• California Newsreel (2005) (USA) (theatrical)
• NHK BS1 (2005) (Japan) (TV)

Other Companies

• Kitchen Sync  post-production sound services

Also Known As:

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Brazil:14 | Iceland:12 | Australia:M | New Zealand:R

Filming Locations:

Rwanda

Company:

White Pine Pictures

Trivia:

Robert Redford personally came to the film's opening at the Sundance Film Festival and introduced the film. At the end he said that this documentary is the type of film he created Sundance for in the first place. Source:

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Hour: Episode #7.30" (2010)

The Devil in our Backyard

I saw Shake Hands with the Devil not long ago, on Radio-Canada, and it was a very strong counter to Hotel Rwanda, which I had seen just days earlier. It amazes how countries that stand up and decry the Holocaust, that call Iraq and Afghanistan centers of evil that must be invaded and liberated, seem to sit quietly and allow genocide to occur repeatedly throughout Africa. Whatever the reason may be - no resources or interests, an attempt to pacify mutual allies, or simple apathy because it's 'not a Western problem', it fills me with anguish to see the results. And to see CNN and the media giving Iraq and the Asian tsunami 24/7 coverage while making Rwanda and Darfur a footnote on the back pages is nothing short of horrendous.

One scene in particular really stuck with me - it's the scene during the Rwandan inquest, where a Belgian senator starts to harangue Dallaire over the deaths of a couple of Belgian peacekeepers, who he claimed could have been saved. It absolutely astounded me to see this self-righteous and self-centered man thinking about the loss of two men while nearly a million were butchered. And to blame Dallaire, who was handicapped by the UN who refused to give him support or a mandate...it boggles the mind. I didn't see the Belgian government pleading for the UN to intervene...

In Darfur it's the same situation - the UN doesn't want to intervene, so they swamp their investigation and reports in red tape, mainly because China has oil contracts with the Sudanese government and Russia has sold arms to them. It looks like the only lesson that the previous genocides of the last century has taught us, is that if there's going to be genocide, get on the side that is committing it and make sure that your interests are secured...

Bravo to Dallaire for having the courage and cojones to return to Rwanda and to give us his outstanding and this astonishing and important documentary. 9/10.