Beyond the Gates (2005)

A Catholic Priest and an English teacher get stranded in a school in Kigali during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Director:

Michael Caton-Jones

Writers:

David Wolstencroft (screenplay), Richard Alwyn (story)

Stars:

John Hurt, Hugh Dancy, Dominique Horwitz

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
John Hurt	...	Christopher
Hugh Dancy	...	Joe Connor
Dominique Horwitz	...	Capitaine Charles Delon
Louis Mahoney	...	Sibomana
Nicola Walker	...	Rachel
Steve Toussaint	...	Roland
David Gyasi	...	François
Susan Nalwoga	...	Edda
Victor Power	...	Julius
Jack Pierce	...	Mark
Musa Kasonka Jr.	...	Boniface
Kizito Ssentamu Kayiira	...	Pierre
Clare-Hope Ashitey	...	Marie
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tom Shepherd	...	Belgian Soldier

Storyline

In April 1994, after the airplane of the Hutu President of Rwanda is shot down, the Hutu militias slaughter the Tutsi population. In the Ecole Technique Officielle, the Catholic Priest Christopher (Sir John Hurt) and the idealistic English teacher Joe Connor (Hugh Dancy) lodge two thousand five hundred Rwandans refugees, under the protection of the Belgian U.N. force, and under siege by Hutu militia. When the Tutsi refugees are abandoned by the U.N., they are murdered by the extremist militia.

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Plot Keywords:

africa | 

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Taglines:

1994, 800,000 killed in 100 days. Would you risk your life to make a difference?

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Genres:

Drama | History | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, disturbing images and language

Details

Official Sites:

BBC Films Official site

Country:

UK Germany

Language:

English French

Release Date:

31 March 2006 (UK)

Also Known As:

Beyond the Gates

Filming Locations:

Charterhouse School, Godalming, Surrey, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

CrossDay Productions Ltd., ARTE, BBC Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The firearm props used were real weapons, though they had been disabled. The extras were given belts of live ammunition to carry around in several scenes.

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Goofs

Throughout the movie, the Belgian Captain wears the insignia of a Sergeant (three white lines).

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Quotes

Christopher: I'll see to that after Mass.
Joe Connor: Mass?
Christopher: I'm a priest in a Catholic country, Joe. This is what I do.
Joe Connor: Yeah, sure. But do you think it is the best time for that?
Christopher: In times of stress, people need to commune with God.
Joe Connor: I think maybe they'd prefer some food, water, a spot of reassurance.
Christopher: Well, come to Mass-get all three on the same ticket.

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Crazy Credits

Before the credits we are shown photographs of Rwanda genocide survivors who served as on set crew members. Next to each picture is text stating how many loved ones they lost.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: 300/The Namesake/I Think I Love My Wife/Beyond the Gates/The Host (2007)

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Soundtracks

Afrika obota

User Reviews

Extraordinary and incredibly moving

I watch upwards of 300 movies a year and use IMDb like a fiend, but only this movie has ever compelled me to register and comment. "Shooting Dogs" is a BBC Films/UK Film Council film about the genocide in Rwanda that was ignored whilst the international community pontificated about the language used to describe what was going on (i.e. "Acts of genocide" vs "genocide"). The film focuses on the desperate plight of 2500 Tutsis seeking shelter in a school-cum-UN military compound. It goes some way to explain the history of the situation and the events surrcounding the genocide.

What makes this movie special is that a number of the production crew are survivors of the Rwandan crisis, and are telling their own stories. As macho as i would love to sound, i had tears in my eyes and felt the pain, hopelessness and indignation - and those are things that no director can claim to have brought to life for me in anything i've watched until now (the closest was probably the magnificent "Mysterious Skin"). Nothing is held back, and not should it be. The horror here is not graphic close-ups, but the shocking disregard for life that leads to the slaughter of newborn babies with machetes, the abject impotence of the UN and how tribal loyalties can turn the closest of friends into murderers.

For those who have lived in Africa (as i have), what is portrayed here is all too real. Like is said by one BBC reporter in the movie, in the Balkans the people were white and they could have been your own mother, but in Rwanda its worse than numbness - its just another dead African. Ignore your preconceptions, assumptions and instant reaction to skip to the next title because its not familiar, it wasn't in the cinema and Hotel Rwanda didn't appeal to you much. The impact this movie had on me was that profound, and i'd urge anyone to watch it to understand what happened there.

And when the credits come up and you've had time to think it over and resolve that it should never happen again, i'd say one word to you: Darfur. It just happened again only recently.