Shooting Dogs... what it says is what it is. (Shooting Dogs (DVD))

Member Name: GoFigure

Product:	Shooting Dogs (DVD)
Date:	03/02/09 (8 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent acting, thought-provoking and heart-wrenching.

Disadvantages: The violence might disturb some viewers.

Directed by Michael Caton-Jones
Screenplay by David Wolstencroft
Story by Richard Alwyn
Released 31 March 2006 (UK)

MAIN CAST:

John Hurt as Christopher
Hugh Dancy as Joe Connor
Dominique Horwitz as Capitaine Charles Delon
Louis Mahoney as Sibomana
Nicola Walker as Rachel
Steve Toussaint as Roland
David Gyasi as François
Susan Nalwoga as Edda
Victor Power as Julius
Jack Pierce as Mark


Based on a true story about a Catholic priest and a young English teacher who find themselves caught in the middle of the 1994 Rwandan genocide that took place at the Ecole Technique Officielle school in Kigali, between April 6th and April 11th in 1994, when violence erupted between Tutsi and Hutu tribes... they will have to choose whether to stay with the thousands of Tutsis about to be massacred, or to flee for safety.

The story begins with the arrival of Joe Connor, the new teacher, and his efforts to acquaint himself with his students and their families while remaining neutral. He learns what it is to be a Tutsi, from their violent past as aggressors, to present day status as victims under the new Hutu regime. As he gets to know his students, both Tutsi and Hutu, friendships develop.

When the violence erupts between the Tutsi and Hutu tribes, the Hutu leave the school compound, and the Tutsi take refuge within it. As violence sweeps across the country, hatred being fanned by the Hutu government itself, Europeans in the area seek refuge in the school compound. At this point, the UN sends a small contingent of Belgian UN soldiers to guard the school.

As the violence escalates, and the school is surrounded by crowds of bloodthirsty Hutus wielding machetes, the Tutsi refugees wonder if the UN will protect them, or if they will be abandoned...

This is a powerful movie, heart-wrenching, thought provoking... from the very beginning it is an emotional rollercoaster ride that fills you with a growing sense of dread and despair, and as each scene flashes before your eyes, your heart is either wrenched from your chest, or you are being choked by anger.

A few of the scenes have been seared to memory, never to be forgotten... when Father Christopher and Joe Connor are hauled from their vehicle by an angry mob of Hutus wielding blood-soaked machetes, the first thing to grab your attention is the fact that you know most of the faces in the crowd - they are, for the most part, students that the priest and teacher have befriended, some of them people the priest has known for many years, yet at that precise moment, when the priest and the teacher are forced to kneel at the feet of their aggressors, your heart literally freezes in your chest - a gripping and chilling moment.

There are many such chilling moments... glimpses into what is happening in the villages as friends turn against friends, and neighbours turn against their neighbours.

There are also numerous thought-provoking scenes, actually, the entire movie is filled with them... when you realize that the Belgian UN soldiers have been given orders not to interfere or to raise their weapons against the Hutu - worse - when you fully understand that the soldiers are not there to protect the Tutsis, but to protect the European refugees, who are, to be noted, all white (not talking about the colour of the clothes they are wearing!).

I was aghast, infuriated and incensed against the UN's high-placed officials, and although there were a few times when that anger was focused upon the Belgian soldiers, it was so very obvious that they wanted to help but were ill equipped to do so, that my anger was diffused. What could a handful of soldiers do against thousands of bloodthirsty Hutus? However, everything could have been different had the UN sent in more troops.

The entire movie fills you with such anger and frustration... knowing that something could have been done to save all those thousands of lost lives. To think that countries like the USA and UK send their armies to Iraq for such obscure causes, whilst genocides are being committed in the rest of the world. Another question we ask ourselves... what purpose does the UN serve? As far as I can see, they are constant observers... observing as people die... observing as one crisis after another occurs without doing anything more than arranging meetings and talks that never amount to anything.

As for the acting... it is simply brilliant, and so very convincing that you feel as though you are watching a documentary and not a movie. This feeling is also heightened by the fact that handheld cameras were used when filming the movie, and that much of the cast were actual survivors of the genocide... also... the movie was shot in the actual school where the genocide took place.

This is an extraordinary movie... one that will keep you on the edge of your seat, and make you feel such a multitude of emotions that you won't be left untouched or unchanged.

Summary: True story about the genocide that took place in Rwanda in 1994.