Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire

A great documentary which tells the story of Dallaire in Rwanda during the genocide. It's amazing to see how no one responded to this crisis and yet quickly responded to what was happening in Yugoslavia. My one problem? Dallaire's roman-catholic spiritualism whereby he says he could feel "the coldness" of the "evil" men who orchestrated the genocide. There are no evil men and good men. Just men. What these men did, they did because they were human, not because the devil tapped them on the shoulder.

I'd heard about Dallaire's return to Canada and what happened when he came back. He was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and was severely depressed. At one point he wandered drunkenly through the streets of Ottawa while he contemplated suicide. He was eventually picked up on a park bench in Hull and was hospitalized. I would have been more interested in hearing about Dallaire's psyche when he returned home. This documentary is after all less about the genocide and more about Dallaire and his confrontation with what he calls "evil".

As someone who has studied the Rwandan civil war and genocide in depth, I would recommend this documentary for providing some important background that is not readily available elsewhere in the film and literature about the genocide. The events of 1993 and early 1994 immediately leading up to the outbreak of killing, are often not presented well. Here we see General Dallaire's return visits to UN installations and places where he tried to carry out his initial mission to implement the Arusha Peace Accords of '93, important pieces of the puzzle. This alone makes the film worth seeing for anyone interested in how the genocide came to happen. There is also a visit to the memorial at Bisesero, an important but lesser known locale during the genocide where Tutsi were able to resist for a long time. While the "Ghosts of Rwanda" Frontline film remains the definitive documentary about the genocide, this movie adds some valuable details.

However, the film also uncomfortably at times seemed like a promotional project or hagiography for Dallaire and his friends and colleagues rather than a truly thoughtful documentary examination of one embattled and psychically wounded commander's experiences in trying to uphold an impossible mission. Part of the "problem" is that Dallaire is clearly a determined personality (and was in 1994) and speaks pretty eloquently for himself, but we also need to "see" more cinematically and not just hear people reciting how wronged he was. We needed less talking heads and more on-the-ground footage. (Although the 1994 footage is horrific enough) The film does not exactly take a dispassionate editorial tone... it's savagely condemning of both the UN and the Belgians in particular. (Warning, don't watch this movie if you're Belgian.)

Clearly, Dallaire was a fall guy for massive UN incompetence and immoral world indifference, who deserves to have his story told. I just think it could have been told much better in documentary form.

I just returned from the Sundance film Festival where I saw Shake Hands with the Devil. This documentary must be seen for many reasons. It is a history lesson for those who missed the tragedy of the Rowandan genocide. It asks the question: why do we value one human life above another? It tells the story of the courage and conviction of Romeo Dallaire; qualities he possesses to an extent that surpasses what most of us can only imagine. After the screening I attended, the audience was left speechless and was slow to applaud. We all sat in our seats numbed by what we just seen - that human life can have no value on a world wide basis. Please see this outstanding documentary.

It's not often that I get to review documentaries (and I'm not sure that Michael Moore counts) but I was fortunate enough to see the excellent film 'Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire' this afternoon. Daillaire was picked from the Canadian Army to lead the UN Peacekeeping mission in Rwanda as the genocide of Tutsis (by another tribe the Hutu) was about to begin. The film goes into the history of how the hatreds began, and how there was a real failure from the world to intervene in time. At every turn Daillaire was thwarted by his so-called superiors to do anything. For the most part his men were left to watch as the country destroyed itself. As this was all happening in the spring of 1994, the world was obsessed with one OJ Simpson and his bloody glove. Watching the film I was sickened by the first world's apathy toward Africa. Bono once said that this generation will be remembered for standing by with water while Africa burned. This film only reinforced the statement. Afterwards the director, Peter Raymont, had a Q&A with the audience (there was also Dallaire's assistant from that period in Rwanda - his name escapes me), and he said that in Canada it will be playing on the CBC in the new year. I saw it as part of the Vancouver International Film Fest, and it's played at Toronto already, and will be at Berlin and Sundance next year. Please check this film out! It deserves to be seen by one and all.

I have seen a few movies re: Dallaire, read his book and have seen him speak. I think what puts this film above all of the other background information that I have is the editing. Yes, some of the footage is stock (stock as in seen in other documentaries re: Rwanda) IT IS ALL REAL. THIS IS A VERY GRAPHIC FILM. The editing is amazing. The photography gives the beauty of the landscape and the stock footage is placed in very well. Overall, it is an amazing movie. I give most of that credit to the editor. It is important to put this film in context. I don't expect most people to understand this context, but if you are interested (which I hope you are) there are many wonderful books that can get you started. Not only is this an important film in the documenting of Dallaire and Rwanda, but it is a VERY honest look at the affects of war. If you watch him as he speaks (on film and in person) this is a man whose very core has been horribly affected. Can he ever overcome those scares? I don't think so. Should he? No. He should do what he is doing now...show them to the world. The sad part is that some parts of the world will never listen to him, but that can not distract him. He has to keep going....I hope this makes some amount of sense. Please, see the film. Understand the history. Teach your children so this isn't again our future.