The story of General Romeo Dallaire's frustrated efforts to stop the madness of the Rwandan Genocide, despite the complete indifference of his superiors.
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In the end of 1993, the Canadian General Romeo Dallaire is assigned to lead the United Nation troops in Rwanda. In 1994, when the genocide of the Tutsis by the Hutus begins, General Dallaire gives his best effort to help the people in Rwanda, inclusive negotiating with the Tutsi rebels, the Hutu army and the Interhamwe militia. However, he fights against bureaucracy and lack of interest from the United Nations and witnesses the West World ignoring and turning back any sort of support, inclusive USA opposing in the security council of UN to any type of help. Written by
Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
At the international news report on the massacres, the modern Rwandan flag is depicted on the screen, which wasn't introduced until 2001, whereas the news report was from 1993, during the massacre. See more »
Quotes
General Romeo Dallaire:
We're going to stay to bear witness to what the rest of the world doesn't want to see.
See more »
OK. I have researched this part of central African contemporary history quite a bit, and I must give Shake Hands with Devils much credit on the accuracy of its historical fact.
For the layman, the Shake Hands with the devil traces the movements of a UN peacekeeping commander, stuck physically (and morally) in the center of the Rwandan Genocide in the early 90s. He is stuck with the catch 22 of helping the helpless (ethic Tutsi in Rwanda facing Genocide at the hands of their own countrymen) and following UN peace keeping orders of being incredibly useless in a dire catastrophic situation.
The problem with this docudrama movie, is that it play like a text book; balancing way to perfectly on the thin line between serious informative documentary and dramatic story telling.
The Rwandan genocide of the 90s was horrific, but the scripting, acting and cinematography of the movie brings none of that terror to life - connecting its audience with emotional tones of that time in history.
Basically: the movie explains such a horrifying topic in African history, but I'm oddly unmoved, and that's a big problem.
The movie contains a lot of the main actor (Nick Nolte) trying to illicit sympathy by having him walk around his tatter office(s)/ room(s)/ roads contemplating deeply his situation about being trapped in civil war torn Rwanda. It seemed like a third of the movie dedicated to these long yawn-inducing ponderings.
Overall: The director did his research on subject, but forgot to actually make an ENGAGING movie.
Sorry, 3 out of 10
2 of 12 people found this review helpful.
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OK. I have researched this part of central African contemporary history quite a bit, and I must give Shake Hands with Devils much credit on the accuracy of its historical fact.
For the layman, the Shake Hands with the devil traces the movements of a UN peacekeeping commander, stuck physically (and morally) in the center of the Rwandan Genocide in the early 90s. He is stuck with the catch 22 of helping the helpless (ethic Tutsi in Rwanda facing Genocide at the hands of their own countrymen) and following UN peace keeping orders of being incredibly useless in a dire catastrophic situation.
The problem with this docudrama movie, is that it play like a text book; balancing way to perfectly on the thin line between serious informative documentary and dramatic story telling.
The Rwandan genocide of the 90s was horrific, but the scripting, acting and cinematography of the movie brings none of that terror to life - connecting its audience with emotional tones of that time in history.
Basically: the movie explains such a horrifying topic in African history, but I'm oddly unmoved, and that's a big problem.
The movie contains a lot of the main actor (Nick Nolte) trying to illicit sympathy by having him walk around his tatter office(s)/ room(s)/ roads contemplating deeply his situation about being trapped in civil war torn Rwanda. It seemed like a third of the movie dedicated to these long yawn-inducing ponderings.
Overall: The director did his research on subject, but forgot to actually make an ENGAGING movie.
Sorry, 3 out of 10