Shake Hands with the Devil

This docudrama covers similar territory and the same event as Hotel Rwanda, being the Rwandan genocide that took place in 1993. The movie focuses on Canadian Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire (briefly portrayed by Nick Nolte in Hotel Rwanda), sent to Kigali, Rwanada to command a U.N peacekeeping mission. The U.N was overseeing a tenuous cease-fire between two feuding Rwandan ethnic groups, the Hutu majority and the Tusti minority. Ultimately the situation ends up failing and breaking out into violence under his watch.

The movie documents Roméo Dallaire's frustration with the U.N and subsequent guilt by refusing to get involved with what was going on and failing to stop the Rwandan genocide that he was witnessing.

I never heard of the the lead actor, Roy Dupuis, before watching the movie. He's very good in the lead role.

The docudrama took the time to explain what was happening on screen point by point in great detail which helped minimize confusion and clarify a lot of things.

i thought this was was a well done film based on the autobiography of Canadian General Romeo Dallaire,who was tasked with the job of leading UN peacekeeping efforts in Rwanda,in what should have been a routine mission,until civil war breaks out.while the rest of the world turns its back,Dallaire does what he can to save as many innocents as he can while war wages on.the movie show how the ludicrousness of bureaucracy,as well as how cruel and unkind(not to mention hypocritical)our western world can be.this is not a movie i would say is enjoyable,given its subject matter.it is quite graphic and bleak.but is well made and the acting is is superb.for me,Shake Hands With The Devil is an 8/10

Not the happiest of movies to watch but a powerful account of the Rwandan genocide in the mid-1990's, as seen through the eyes of Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire (Roy Dupuis) who led a United Nations peacekeeping force. I will admit to being a bit confused initially as to what was going on and why Dallarie wasn't given any help (in fact support was taken away) or the ability to engage. His hands were completely tied as he dealt with bureaucrats and watched genocide take place around him, very frustrating. As the world stood by, 454 UN Peacekeepers from over 20 nations chose to stay behind in Rwanda, helping to save the lives of 32,000 Rwandans who would otherwise have been murdered.

This has been based on Dallaire's autobiography and Roy Dupuis is amazing in this role, transforming himself into the General. The scenes where he is with his therapist back in Canada were interesting, suffering from PTSD as the ghosts of those he knew and served with are in the room with him. Beautiful scenery but horrific and stomach churning that this was allowed to happen. 10/13

As a Belgian I had a particular interest in watching this movie. I personally know some paracommando's that were there, they told me about the tragedy, about their fustration no to be able to do anything about it, and that mostly due to the incompetence and/or indifference of the decision makers. It's difficult to blame someone specific for this genocide, a genocide that could have been avoid if somebody had some balls to stand up and do something about it. Belgian, French, or American governments should have done something about it, instead they closed their eyes on this tragedy as there is nothing to gain for them in Rwanda, it's a thing that would cost a lot of money and they wouldn't benefit in any way by doing something about it, so letting this genocide happen whilst the whole world was watching is just criminal. Belgium commemorates the ten paracommando's that have been butchered there, they should be ashamed of themselves, how much more hypocritical can a government be? That said the movie is well made, with good acting and solid cinematography. It's a very hard story to watch, almost unbearable when you know what happened there in such a short period. If this would have happened in any other rich country the world would have yelled 'justice' but it's only Rwanda so we close our eyes or look the other way.

This is lesson 2, after lesson 1 (Hotel Rwanda) on the history of a country I know very little about. But that does not matter. Rwanda in 1994 was a stage on which we witnessed the triumph of the dark side of humanity, and the failure of a world body called UN.

As a film, 'Shake Hands with the Devil' was not rated as good as 'Hotel Rwanda' by the film critics. I tend to agree with this assessment. However, it was shot on location in Rwanda with many locals participating in the film. The acting in films was reasonably well done and the overall story telling convincing.

The film moved me enough to make me ponder other scenarios: what if General Dallaire took things into his own hands and started firing his weapons, instead of just passively observing the killing and rape? And what if the UN had a change of heart and decided to get further involved instead of backing out? How many lives could have been saved, and how that would have changed the Rwanda as we know it now?

In short, this film makes me think. And for this reason alone it is well worth my time.