Both “Hotel Rwanda” and the cable-TV movie “Sometimes in April” have brought home the horror of the genocide that happened in Rwanda in 1994. Those were dramatized versions of real events; now a documentary provides another part of the puzzle.
“Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire” is a portrait of the Canadian general who was put in charge of the small United Nations force in Rwanda shortly before the uprising of the Hutus. It was perhaps one of the most hamstrung positions a military leader has ever been placed in – not only because of the size of his fighting unit, but also because he was denied the ability to take decisive action.
If you remember “Hotel Rwanda,” you’ll remember the bitter Nick Nolte character. That role was evidently based on Romeo Dallaire, a Canadian military man with a tough-guy face and a bristly mustache.
“Shake Hands” finds Dallaire 10 years after the disaster, and follows him back to Rwanda (his first return) for a trip that is both tormenting and healing.
The mass slaughter, which he witnessed, nearly destroyed him. When Dallaire came back from Africa, he suffered a nervous breakdown and contemplated suicide – his role left him racked with guilt that he clearly feels deeply.
In following Dallaire, filmmaker Peter Raymont lays out the condition of Rwanda in general – the reasons for the violence, and the hesitant reaction of the rest of the world. 800,000 people died in a matter of weeks, and the reaction of Europe and America was ineffectual, to say the least. (Raymont reminds us that it was the summer of the O.J. Simpson trial in the U.S.)
Dallaire is a uniquely valuable guide to all this. Not only can he describe what it was like (sometimes in nauseating detail), but his searching sensitivity provides a framework for understanding. He doesn’t try to tie things neatly up, or settle for easy platitudes. The reality is still raw, open, unfinished. He might find personal closure by going back to Africa, but there’s no closure in the place itself.
The film has violent news footage of the atrocities, which contrasts weirdly with the photography of the beautiful country itself. The juxtaposition is one of the many tough things to admire about this film, which is essential viewing on this awful subject.
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