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.

Based on the book by the same title, Shake Hands with the Devil chronicles the horrendous experiences of Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire of the Canadian Forces, who headed up the 1994 United Nations peacekeeping force in Rwanda during the outbreak of that country's genocidal civil war between rival Hutus and Tutsis.

Directed by Roger Spottiswoode, this Canadian production, filmed on location in Rwanda, serves as a scathing indictment of humanity in general, and the UN in particular, for turning a blind eye to the human carnage that took place in the former Belgian colony.

Hamstrung by UN orders not to interfere, his men given virtually no ammunition and instructed to only fire if fired upon, the movie chronicles the events that left Dallaire, a once proud and hardened career military officer, broken and teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

Unlike 2004's Hotel Rwanda, which chronicled the same events through the smaller story of Paul Rusesabagina, the manager a Kigali Hotel, Shake Hands with the Devil approaches the Rwandan tragedy from a broader perspective, with mixed results. While Spottiswoode places the focus on Dallaire's experiences, which range from playing military goodwill ambassador, to struggling to find ways to protect the innocent, and playing dancing pony to insulated and indifferent UN mandarins, the scope is somewhat too broad leaving the viewer feeling like an outsider looking at a holocaust from a distance, and through bullet-proof glass. UN officials as well as diplomats from France and the US are given cursory walk-ons, with little character development nor insight into their short-sighted actions. Instead, the audience is almost expected to approach this film with prior background knowledge about events leading up to the genocide. Without trying to appear insensitive, as a viewer, a better result might have been yielded if some of the copious screen time devoted to images of Dallaire and his men wading through bodies had instead been given to a closer examination of the motives (or lack thereof) behind the Rwandan abandonment on the part the UN and its principal movers and shakers.

On the plus side, Dupuis' portrayal of Dallaire is among the most eerily accurate renditions by an actor in quite some time. Not only do the two share a striking resemblance, but Dupuis seems to almost become the General in every aspect of his being. As a Canadian familiar with the sight of Dallaire in news reports and interviews, Dupuis' performance is nothing short of impressive.

Though flawed, Shake Hands with the Devil is still a powerful and must see film. As Dallaire himself says to his men, "we will stay to bear witness to that which the world does not want to see". If nothing else, that alone is reason enough to make time for this film.

Rarely do I watch a movie and get physically affected by it. Crash made tears well, Shake Hands with the Devil made me weep. It made me sick with anguish and sorrow. This movie is the most powerful movie I have ever seen. It's hard to soften the subject matter of this movie, the systematic extermination of nearly a million people, the inaction by the world at large, the plight of a broken soul. "Shake Hands with the Devil" succeeds in bring to light the events that occurred in April, 1994 in the small African nation, as seen through the eyes of Gen. Romeo D'Allaire. Throughout the film we see graphic images of the atrocities that occurred in Rwanda, from dismembered corpses to severed arms, legs, and heads. Rotting piles of bodies on the roadsides and men, women, and children being hacked up in the streets. This movie is not a fun time for anybody. This movie isn't fun. It's depressing. Very, very depressing. I think this is a movie that every single person should see. So that, as Romeo says, No one ever forgets April, 1994 in Rwanda. This movie is deserving of a nomination for an Oscar, it is the best Canadian film I have seen since "Bon Cop Bad Cop".

I cannot in all honesty discuss this movie with any kind of reasonable and objective framework or point of reference. Though in all earnest I have found myself actively trying to avoid films such as "Shake Hands With The Devil", I cannot help it but be drawn by them even as in the end I pay a price for watching them. "Schindler's List", "Ararat", "The Killing Fields", "Sophie's Choice", "The Pianist" and "Hotel Rwanda" are examples of such movies, movies portraying the cruelty and inhumanity of man towards man. Every time I see such movies I feel drained, ashamed, impotent, angry, complicit, astonished and guilty at my own ignorance, selfishness and apathy. For make no mistake, in some ways we are all guilty, we all share in the blame for all these monstrous calamities that have occurred throughout history, genocide, mass killings, destructions of bodies, minds and souls, at which we stood present aiding their architects and allowing diabolical plans put in motion to proceed unhindered. Mankind's deafening silence and the extinguished voices of all those that perished are our most potent accusers.

Still with all these painful lessons, WE CONTINUE TO DO NOTHING... Years ago in what seems now another lifetime, I too was a refugee, lost to the world, one of those faceless, abandoned and shunned multitudes, millions upon millions of the world's orphans, for that is what refugees are... Yet what I experienced in all my trials and tribulations is but an ounce of what the people of Rwanda experienced back in 1994. Furthermore in my case I was fortunate, no beyond fortunate, I was lucky, truly so, that my outcome was a good one, and was able to find another home and build a new life

When I finished watching "Shake Hands With The Devil", all the painful memories of old came back, flooding my mind. Even so, it is my belief that movies such as these need to be made and these kinds of stories, no matter how painful and depressing, have to be continually told, and in that, a movie such as this is invaluable. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to at least learn something, get a glimpse of people, events and places they most likely will never encounter in their lifetime, tragic though they may all be.

I am very familiar with the story of General Romeo Dallaire, and I have the utmost respect and admiration for this brave, brutally honest and sincere man. Every time I have heard his interviews and speeches he has been jarring in his self-assessment and in the acknowledgment of his own failure, which knowing what we now know about the indifference and willful ignorance of the international community and the United Nations, I highly doubt.

Some have accused Dallaire of grandstanding, yet I see none of that, I see a guilt ridden man that has led a long and difficult struggle to find himself,to rediscover his purpose in life, a long journey from the darkness to the light. This is a man haunted by many demons and dark shadows,that he somehow must now accept and incorporate within his own soul and character. His life's mission is now very clear, to be the voice for all those that died in Rwanda, to bear witness to their tragedy and plight, to keep their memory and story alive, and be our own demon by never letting us forget what we could have and should have done. At the very least and if nothing else, Romeo Dallaire was there and tried his best, and for that nobody can fault him.

All the people involved in this project are to be commended for the job that they did in bringing this tragic episode to life once more. Roy Dupuis should be noted especially for his role, presence and his work in such a difficult movie.

So, go out, see this movie and reflect on what this dark chapter in human history means to you and perhaps look for something within yourself that you could change for the better, and if you can do that, then all of this would have been worth something and perhaps the future is not yet lost to us.

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