Shake Hands with the Devil
Shake Hands with the Devil is the story of a Canadian commander torn between his duty and his conscience when he finds himself eyewitness to hell on earth. In 1993, the United Nations dispatches Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire (Roy Dupuis) to far-off Rwanda to oversee a fragile cease-fire. A brilliant, workaholic officer and charismatic commander, Dallaire encounters the shabby - sometimes comically shabby - reality of a typical UN peacekeeping operation: under-funded, over-bureaucratic, and cobbled together from military units from dozens of countries, each with a slightly different agenda. Meanwhile the peace agreement between the rebels, led by the minority Tutsi ethnic group, and the French-supported government dominated by the Hutu majority group, turns out to rest on shaky ground. Conciliatory speeches are undercut by mysterious massacres. Just months after Dallaire raises the UN flag, an unknown group shoots down the President's plane. Are the rebels to blame or the Hutu extremists in the President's own party? (To this day, nobody knows.) With the plane crash, the storm breaks and a secret but long-planned genocidal campaign against the Tutsi minority begins with a night of terror in Kigali.
Member Reviews
Shaking hands with our darkest side - Diversitility
Shake Hands with the Devil is a fine piece of historical cinema. It tells the story of Canadian general Romeo Dallaire, who was in charge of the ill-fated peace mission in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. Dallaire watched helplessly, with his hands tied, as the slaughter was perpetrated by Hutu fanatics. The UN, bowing to international and internal politics, adopted a non-intervention strategy when direct action may have saved many thousands of lives. Director Roger Spottiswoode chose to present the film as a series of flashbacks, as Dallaire, suffering from severe post-traumatic stress, relives his nightmare in the presence of a psychologist. This device seems somewhat contrived, but for the rest, the film is first rate. We feel the extreme beauty and terrible agony of Rwanda and its people. Roy Dupuis, as Dallaire, conveys the man's courage, bravery and terrible helplessness, giving a solid, dignified performance. The perspective is Dallaire's, and we therefore experience the horrors with his sel-protective detachment, which he cannot maintain once the harrowing events have finally played out to their bitter end. This is a wonderful film for all those eager to experience recent history and shake hands with some of the most terrifying capacities of human beings.SHAKE HAND WITH THE DEVIL - oldmovies
This is a very powerful film about one the worst moment in the world's history. Almost a million people were killed in Rwanda and the rest of the world looked away for way too long.
This film shows these events through the eyes of General Roméo Dallaire, an army man that was sent to Rwanda on a Peacekeeping mission. With the resources he was given, it was an impossible task and Dallaire came back a broken man. Still, he vowed to live through his painful memories so that people shall never forget.
Roy Dupuis is absolutely fantastic in his portrayal of Dallaire. His performance really rings true. Most of the film was shot on location, in Rwanda, which gave the movie even more power.
Well worth a watch, even though some images can be hard to endure. It is a sad reality that is shown on screen.Speechless. - DannyN16
How you can watch this movie and not be deeply moved is simply beyond me. It is an unflinching portrayal of the Rwandan genocide, which avoids the cliche of making one person the villain and one person the hero, despite its sympathetic protagonist. Roger Spottiswoode's direction was simple, but deft, and he let the story speak for itself. Roy Dupuis is a masterful actor, and conveys the gravity of his role effortlessly. Odile Katesi Gakire only has a few minutes of screen-time as Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, but her performance resonates throughout the film. I was very impressed by the music as well, because it managed to inject more sorrow into the film, but without making the movie more overwhelming than it needed to be in order to get the point across. A few pacing issues aside, this is a brilliant, thought-provoking, evocative movie that certainly is a must-see.
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Shaking hands with our darkest side - Diversitility
Shake Hands with the Devil is a fine piece of historical cinema. It tells the story of Canadian general Romeo Dallaire, who was in charge of the ill-fated peace mission in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. Dallaire watched helplessly, with his hands tied, as ...SHAKE HAND WITH THE DEVIL - oldmovies
This is a very powerful film about one the worst moment in the world's history. Almost a million people were killed in Rwanda and the rest of the world looked away for way too long.
This film shows these events through the eyes of General Roméo Dallaire, ...Speechless. - DannyN16
How you can watch this movie and not be deeply moved is simply beyond me. It is an unflinching portrayal of the Rwandan genocide, which avoids the cliche of making one person the villain and one person the hero, despite its sympathetic protagonist. Roger ...