Syl
This haunting movie is about the Rwandan genocide in 1994. The film takes place at a UN school with Sir John Hurt as Father Christopher and Hugh Dancy, a British teacher. In only a few days, 2,500 refugees stayed at the school rather than be slaughtered by machete outside the gates. The film shows the horrors of dead bodies laying on the streets. Hurt is brilliant in his role. When he explains that he has found his soul here, it was heartbreaking. You knew Christopher would stay behind. When the father pleaded to be killed by guns than machetes, it was harrowing. The story of the genocide in Rwanda should be told here. The film doesn't shy away from accurately reporting the events. The film was done on location in Rwanda.
robert-1277
John Hirt was not at all convincing in the role of Christopher, the Catholic priest; I got the distinct impression he was either too hot or bored to make a real effort. Otherwise the film was way ahead of 'Hotel Rwanda' which someone quite rightly said was too Americanised both in terms of plot and implementation, i.e. sanitised. Yes, why the makers had to make such an elementary mistake like giving the Belgian captain the insignia of a sergeant is quite beyond me. Small wonder the captain, Dominique Horwitz, also looked a touch cheesed off at times! Sadly, although a very effective vehicle for putting over the horrors of the Rwandan genocide at the time, I doubt very much 'Shooting Dogs'will make the very slightest difference to the plight of all sub-Saharan peoples currently exploited for their natural resources by the First World countries of both East and West.
TxMike
An alternate title for this movie is "Shooting Dogs", which we begin to understand as the movie goes forward. As bodies of the dead began to mount up, dogs had to be shot to keep them from eating them.This movie covers the same time period in 1994 as the excellent "Hotel Rwanda." During when most of the killing was done, about 800,000 had been killed. This movie covers events where perhaps 2,500 of those were killed.John Hurt is Father Christopher, Catholic priest in a Rwandan technical school for the kids. There is a fence and iron gates around it. When the president is killed by the insurgents, townspeople who fear for their lives head for the school, which already had UN "peace-keeping" troops inside. By order of Christopher, the people were let in.Hugh Dancy is young man Joe Connor who teaches at the school.The story centers upon the survival of these people inside the school grounds, while we see hundreds outside being killed if they did not belong to the correct race. It is a very difficult movie to see, but worth a viewing as a way to stay aware of what can happen around the world.SPOILERS: The UN troops had orders not to shoot unless they were fired upon first. So, even though they witnesses senseless killings, they could do nothing. Eventually military trucks came to take away all the whites, but the native Rwandans were left behind, to be slaughtered. Only very few survived, and some of those participated in making this movie.
kkentuckywoman
Can't believe this is the same director who made one of my favorites of all time, "Doc Hollywood"! What a range. But, here again, wonderful creation of sense of place. If you think "Hotel Rwanda" did it all, think again. In many ways this film is more horrifying with its focus on a single technical college where many Tutsis took refuge despite the impotence of UN soldiers based there. I also admired the inclusion of details that showed the Rwandans not simply as passive victims, but organizing themselves within the compound to promote their own welfare and resisting where possible.The film ably depicted the "thuggery" of the Hutu militias. Scholars of ethnic conflict have noted how thugs use the cover of ethnicity to exploit unsettled situations. The solution? Prompt "policing", a strong show of force, as could have been provided by the UN.
AD
