Film/DVD Review
Title: Shake Hands With The Devil
Studio: Seville Pictures
Directed By: Roger Spottiswoode
Principal Actors: Roy Dupuis
Film Released: September 28^th 2007
Released on DVD: January 29^th 2008
Length: 113 Minutes

4 Stars

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey

Romeo Dallaire's shocking, and horrifying true account of his position as a United Nations Force Commander for UNAMIR, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda in the early 1990s was bound into a memoir in 2003. The same 1990s Rwanda that would reveal a highly documented Genocide, that was not intervened on by the UN despite the fact that peacekeepers in ample numbers were already in the country; something Dallaire could never get over. However, Dallaire's own actions and decisions (many against the UN's specific instructions to not act) saved over 20,000 Hutus and Tutsis alike during the crisis. Upon his return Dallaire told the truth as he understood it, in his memoir of the experience. A national bestseller, which went on to become an award winning documentary and now a feature film with one of Canada's pre-eminent actors Roy Dupuis playing Dallaire.

The film had a typically limited Canadian release and has more widespread appeal on DVD as of January 29^th of 2008. It is easy to understand why a culture wants so desperately to recreate its heroes footsteps on film, and as Canada is so swept up in ‘hockey worship' that often true heroes get pushed aside for athletic idols, Dallaire is a refreshing shift in values . Canadians can proudly present Dallaire as a hero of the country, both on a national and international level. Shake Hands With The Devil, whether it is the title of his book, the documentary based on the book or the feature film based on the documentary and the book, will always be a chilling term after Dallaire's experiences in Rwanda. Possibly the most harrowing and terrifying moment of director Roger Spottiswoode's film is an encounter where Dallaire (played by Dupuis) must have a meeting with the leaders who instigated the genocide, and as he does so, Dallaire must shake hands with a man he reviles and whose cuffs are bloodstained. This moment in the film heralds back to much older films where graphic images did not dilute the screen, but a simple implication as bloodied cuffs can make the viewer sit cold in their seat.

Honestly, much of Shake Hands With The Devil is a serious political film that caters very little to our Hollywood sensationalism appetites. Steven Spielberg says when he directs he always aims for the section below the head and above the gut; essentially the heart. Very little of this film is filtered through the heart, which can be found in films like Hotel Rwanda and Shooting Dogs, also about the Rwandan Genocide. At times this lack of emotion can be frustrating as even the extensive media coverage in 1994 had most of the world traumatized, but pinned to their evening newscasts. However, it is well worth holding out until the end of this film as the story is told through Dallaire's flashbacks after his return, and his confession of not willing to look at the tragedy at the time, as it was too much to cope with while all the events were occurring, hits the viewer like a blow to the heart. Your eyes open with Dallaire's and the sadness wells in.

I was in High School when the Rwandan Genocide occurred and much of my early University years were submerged in the subject of ‘how' and ‘why' of this historical massacre. When I decided to adopt a child in a third world country, my heart immediately answered ‘a girl in Rwanda.' We can never obsolete the tragedy, we can never erase a horrifying past, but as the female Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana says to Dallaire of her country, which was depicted in the film, before her assassination that ‘Children who are beautiful are easy to love, but it is the ugly children that are hard to love, but must still be loved the same.' Part of the horror that occurred in Rwanda Spottiswoode points out, is that the country is so beautiful it has a heavenly appeal to it, and that such tragedy could manifest itself in such a place. Even in 2008, fourteen years later, films like Shake Hands With The Devil are an imperative ‘ugly child' we must love so that we can work towards affecting change in Darfur, where a similar tragedy is happening right now.

Shake Hands With The Devil was a fitting homage to a great Canadian hero, done with respect and understanding of a complex story. Deservedly, the film has been nominated for 12 Genie Awards (Dupuis is a shoe-in for best actor, after all, whose not going to give Helen Mirren an award for playing the Queen of England?). The best aspect of the DVD is Dallaire's own commentary with director Roger Spottiswoode, which is a detailed account by Dallaire of his own experience as the film unfolds; both touching and insightful.