Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire (2004)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Peter Raymont

Writer:

Roméo Dallaire (book)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

The story of Canadian Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire, and his controversial command of the United Nations mission to Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. |

Plot Keywords:

Genocide | United Nations Mission | Rwanda | United Nations | Africa

Awards:

6 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Roméo Dallaire

...

Himself (as Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire)

Also Known As:

J'ai serré la main du diable - Roméo Dallaire (Canada: French title)
Shake Hands with the Devil (Australia) (DVD title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Brazil:14 | Iceland:12 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Rwanda

Company:

White Pine Pictures

Trivia:

Robert Redford personally came to the film's opening at the Sundance Film Festival and introduced the film. At the end he said that this documentary is the type of film he created Sundance for in the first place. Source:

What a moving film.

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.