Kinyarwanda

The film, "Kinyarwanda," filmed by Alrick Brown, has a unique perspective on the Rwandan genocide, as well as the Islamic religion widely practiced in Rwanda. I have mixed feelings about this specific film. I liked and also disliked the flashback factor integrated in the film. It was very cool and unique, but it also made the film much harder to follow. It was a very cool touch that the director added into the making of the film. Director, Alrick Brown, is from Kingston, Jamaica, and he served in the peace corps for several years. Therefore, Brown has a multicultural perspective on many world issues, this including the Rwandan genocide. Often portrayed in a negative way, Alrick Brown shows the hidden good side of the people stuck within the Rwandan genocide. This is often something we miss with American films -- the different global perspectives on a subject. What we may think in America and our views could be totally twisted to what the actual impact and turnout to the event ended up being in different countries where those problems take place. Other countries' views could be totally twisted to what we think happened, so it is refreshing to receive a clean, global perspective from a person who knows more about the Rwandan culture than I do.

At the time of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the Mufti of Rwanda issued a fatwa forbidding Muslim from participating in the killing of Tutsi.Therefore mosques became places of refuge where Muslims and Christians, Hutu and Tutsi came together to protect each other.Amidst this chaos in which the Hutu married with Tutsi women were menaced a young Tutsi woman and a young Hutu man fall in love (I have lived 4 years in Rwanda in the 70s and mixt marriages Hutu-Tutsi were common).So the film shows how people in Rwanda intented to help each other in his tremendous moments of hate.The film shows also the efforts for the reconciliation !! Kinyarwanda is a very good film.

I went to a screening of this film with the director and cinematographer who did a great Q&A. It simply blew me away. It's full of incredible and moving performances by a cast of mainly first-time actors. It's a series of expertly interwoven short stories -- all based on true stories -- each of which will stick with you. It's a gripping, suspenseful tale that also does a remarkable job of showing the humanity, the hopes, the humor, and the dreams of Rwandans. Hearing how this film got made so beautifully at such a low budget was truly inspiring. Filmmakers should go see it to see what is possible to do on a low budget these days -- though really anyone with a dream would be well-severed to watch it.