Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire

This film reaffirms why documentary film making is so important. Documentaries don't simply tell a story; they tell a real story, a human story. Documentaries help to shed light on human triumphs and human tragedies, both of which are evident in this gripping film directed by Peter Raymont.

The tragedy, of course, was that nearly 1 million Rwandans were killed and slaughtered in a senseless act of genocide. What adds to the tragedy is that the "civilized" world could have easily stopped this from happening, if they only cared. The film displays how the U.N. and individual countries alike not only failed to help the innocent Rwandan people, but in many ways they contributed to the genocide that happened by creating some of the ethnic stigmas that existed in the country.

Yet amongst all of this carnage and horror there did remain some good people who tried to help the Rwandan's. General Romeo Dallaire, commander of the UN forces in Rwanda, was one of these people. Perhaps no one else in Rwanda did as much to save people as did Mr. Dallaire. Even though he was betrayed by the UN and ignored by the rest of the world, he emerged from this terrible situation as a hero.

I believe the ultimate message of this film is that the leading countries of the world and their citizens must learn from human tragedies like Rwanda so that we can take action to prevent such atrocities from happening again. Unfourtunately, with situations such as the one in Darfur, it seems like this message is not being heard. An important film that must be seen by all and a shining example of documentary film making. 10/10.

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.

In 1994 General Dallaire was given command of a small peacekeeping operation from the UN in the central African country of Rwanda. When the Hutus started killing the Tutsis population the UN evacuated the westerners but essentially left the country to take care of itself – with only Dallaire's small and underfunded group of men left against a tidal wave of violence that left about 800,000 dead. As the west sat transfixed by the OJ trial, Dallaire struggled to get the word out and get the world to respond. Ten years later, he returns to Rwanda to remember.

Having been gutted by Hotel Rwanda I felt ashamed that I knew very little about the genocide and decided to watch this documentary to provide more insight than HR did. Although this film is more interested in Dallaire than in the actual genocides it still is educational, interesting and impacting. We follow Dallaire as he returns to the country and recollects the events of a decade ago, memories that are backed up with some sickening archive footage of bodies and murder. It doesn't really shock or emotionally involve that well in that regard though – compared to the narrative structure of HR this seems a bit distant, a fact not helped by the "looking back" delivery. However the film is still impacting because it focuses more on the west and the failure to act, with Dallaire lost in the middle of the chaos. The film does this well and it is very clear where the blame lies and how insincere the world was and still is – Clinton's visit and assurances that he didn't appreciate how bad things were at the time made me angry and frustrated.

As our eyes Dallaire is very interesting. He is long past tears so he doesn't move us by breaking down but by being honest and talking. The things he recalls seeing are horrific, although just as engaging is his own pain and suffering – his frustrations, his fears and his anger. I'm sure some viewers will not warm to him because he doesn't look emotional but his story makes up for it. The film gives him a bit of an easy ride in some regards, not pushing him when he says that he had no mandate etc, but even those who feel he is the figurehead for failure will acknowledge that he did stay when he could easily have left like everyone else.

Overall this is a hard film to judge because the subject matter means it easily engages and is moving. Some viewers may find it a bit cold compared to the emotional ride of Hotel Rwanda but it is no less for it, in fact it makes for a more detailed and open presentation that is consistently interesting and moving.

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".

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.