DVD: Shooting Dogs

This is a powerful film about the Rwandan Genocide, although curiously set around the experiences of two white people: a priest, Father Christopher (played by John Hurt), and a school teacher, Joe Connor (played by Hugh Dancy). For all its faults (like Hotel Rwanda it is a fictionalized account "based on real events and filmed in the locations depicted") it strongly brings to bear the main threads of the genocide – how could the UN and the West let it happen, how could a nation be split so easily, and why was there no intervention by Africa or the rest of the world?

There has been much criticism of the film's two main protagonists being white, but as I watched the film, and thought about who the audience would likely be, I realized that it was the correct choice. This is a particularly powerful film (so much more than Hotel Rwanda), so powerful in fact that if the protagonists had been Rwandan, it would ultimately have been too difficult to watch. We are offered a safety barrier between us and the horror of the genocide by seeing events unfold through the eyes of two outsiders. That one of these two characters makes the ultimate sacrifice only adds to the message of the film, and the questions one must ask about how people can be persuaded to turn so easily on their neighbors.

I felt nervous as I watched the film, aware that the majority of people acting and many of those working behind the scenes were survivors of the genocide. How did they feel, I wondered as the film progressed and the inevitable ending approached, re-enacting the outrage which occurred at the École Technique Officille (ETO).

The film was shot on location. In real life the ETO, a complex of classrooms and associated buildings run by Salesian Fathers in in Kicukiro, was one of 14 bases for the Belgian UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) soldiers. French troops soon arrived, intending only to evacuate three French and several Italian nationals. Eventually 150 Europeans were taken out. When the UN soldiers pulled out the next day, the militia (Interhamwe) immediately started shooting and throwing grenades at those sheltering at the ETO. Few survived, mostly children who had been hidden under beds.

And if you are left wondering at the end of the film whether UNAMIR Lieutenant Luc Lemaire was actually asked by Rwandans at the ETO if he would shoot them rather than leave them to the machete wielding Interhamwe, the answer is yes.