Screening Log
This new site feature is a collective effort to summarize our viewing habits. Occasionally, you will find titles here that are coming to a theater near you, in addition to films viewed on television, and even films viewed in piecemeal. The screening log is archived each month; to view past entries select a month in the menu below.
November 2007 activity
Total Log Entries: 25
- Adam (8)
- Chet (0)
- Chiranjit (0)
- Cullen (0)
- David (0)
- Eva (1)
- Evan (0)
- Ian (0)
- Jenny (0)
- Katherine (0)
- Leo (0)
- Megan (0)
- Rumsey (7)
- Teddy (0)
- Thomas (1)
- Victoria (1)
Total Comments: 6
- Ratatouille (0)
- Secrets From Another Place (0)
- Black Narcissus (0)
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture (2)
- This Is England (0)
- Hail The Conquering Hero (0)
- American Gangster (0)
- Frozen (0)
- Paris Je T’Aime (0)
- Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man (0)
- Shake Hands With The Devil (0)
- Fido (0)
- American Gangster (3)
- The Zero Effect (0)
- Trapped in the Closet (0)
- The Big Lebowski (0)
- Begotten (0)
- Saw IV (0)
- Lions for Lambs (0)
- Death of a President (0)
- Stranded (0)
- Evil Dead II (0)
- The Evil Dead (0)
- The Goonies (0)
- Cemetery of Terror (1)
Full Archive
Shake Hands With The Devil / Canada / 2007
I knew going in that I would be moved by Shake Hands With The Devil. I knew that I would sympathize with Canadian General (now Senator) Romeo Dallaire as he struggled against international indifference; as he was forced to witness the Rwandan genocide and to interact with its perpetrators while being forbidden to intervene; as he returned home to Canada and was treated for post-traumatic stress, and was eventually driven to attempt suicide because of what he had seen, and done, and been unable to do.
I knew the content of the movie would impress me. What I didn’t expect was that I would be so impressed by the making of the film itself. The music, the cinematography, the acting, the script — all were fantastic. With a subject like the Rwandan genocide it would be easy to sensationalize, to go for the goriest and most emotionally wrenching moments possible, to create martyrs and monsters and to leave out the details. Too many accounts of Rwanda show a spontaneous, inexplicable, outburst of tribal violence — they make no mention of the planning that went into the genocide, the organization, the training, the scheduling, the making of lists. They don’t mention the civil war that had been ongoing for years. Shake Hands With The Devil includes that context, and shows the various international factors and voices that constrained Dallaire and his men. Not many international players come out of this looking good.
Some critics have suggested that the movie focuses too much on Dallaire, and not enough on the true victims of the genocide; that its emphasis on his struggle somehow minimizes the suffering of the Rwandans. That’s a cheap shot in my book. Everyone is entitled to tell their own story, and the story of the commander of the United Nations forces in Rwanda, who was given explicit orders not to intervene in the genocide, is one that is certainly worth hearing.
by Eva Holland | Source: 35 MM Theatrical Print
25 Nov 2007 7:40 PM | Submit Comment
