Spinning Rwanda: Hollywood's Trilogy of Gloom
Published May 24, 2005
I'll never think letting all those people get slaughtered was the right thing to do, but I've purposely avoided talking about the plot of these films or the history behind the real-life events because if you're reading this, I really want you to see these fictionalizations of something that seems too horrific to have been real. I hope, in so doing, that you'll tackle the Rubik's cube of it all in your mind with the awareness that the reasons our species can be so despicable is a puzzle that's unsolvable. But it's precisely because the little squares interconnect in ways we can't imagine that we have to make the effort of solving the impossible.
And I don't wanna hear any of that "never again" crap. History is too much an endless loop for me to ever believe in that, but I write this to suggest we've made real progress when pop culture does the job of presenting stories--even sans hardcore analysis or lectures from professors in horn-rimmed glasses or reams of data spewed from the largest hard drives and fastest processors--that have to be told, especially when the news media can't do the job or doesn't do it adequately or does it but we tune into something else. Besides too much of that can make one's mind shut down, but art, hopefully, will open the heart. Even for tears.
For more self-righteous rambling, visit Sleepwalkers' Glory.
- Spinning Rwanda: Hollywood's Trilogy of Gloom
- Published: May 24, 2005
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Video
- Writer: mpho
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Not to be rude, but I'd recommend against Dallaire's book and his hero-posturing.
Philip Gourevitch's We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda is a good alternative.
Gourevitch's book is definitely good but I would disagree with your assessment of Dallaire as "hero-posturing". I wouldn't call Shake Hands with the Devil a brilliant read (Dallaire uses far to many obscure UN acronyms for my taste) but it does a good job of capturing the essence and hopelessness of the situation. Given the lack of support for the mission, Dallaire did about as well as anyone could, to his own cost.
The ending of Sometimes in April wonders if after the next genocide it will take another 10 years for HBO films and the like to be made before people realize, yet again
Great opinion,mpho
thanks, aaman. While I appreciate the reading suggestions (I haven't read any of them yet), my rambling sort of point was that I'd rather have Hollywood tackle these historical moments long after the fact than not at all because if once-current events don't make it into what we think of as entertainment venues, a huge cross-section of the population will never learn anything, even a distilled, watered down version of events. I'm sure more people have seen the box office smash Hotel Rwanda than the total number who have read Shake Hands With The Devil, Gourevitch's book, and Bowden's book added together. I mean here I am, acting like I know it all, and I haven't even read their books. It's easier to get someone to commit to 2 1/2 hours of voyeuristic activity than to push a book on somebody, so why not make the most of it?
by the way, French's book, A Continenet for the Taking," is subtitled "The Tragedy and Hope of Africa." While it's not specific to Rwanda, French talks a lot of things that happened all over Africa during the 1990s. Foreign Affairs has a great review at http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20040501fabook83355/howard-w-french/a-continent-for-the-taking-the-tragedy-and-hope-of-africa.html which is different from the link I chose in my blog post.
Great post. I'm Rwandan so it's always good to see something like this. And I agree with Dean- both books are important in their own way, although Gourevitch's will probably never be topped.
totally agree with your rwanda comments. i saw "hotel" and was devastated. yeah, i knew what had happened - had read articles & commentary. but seeing it dramatazied like that made such an impact. yep, the whole theater was sobbing, rightly so. will have to check out the other film you mentioned, when i can handle it...
Another excellent review!
One more good book to add to the list, is Toni Bambara's Those Bones Are Not My Child which isn't about Africa at all, let alone Somalia or Rwanda, but it is about race and African-American state-of-life in America (it's about the Atlanta murders) and somehow it seems to go well with the DVDs and books above. More pertinent to the subject, probably the best book is one already recommended above, We wish to inform you... which is as harrowing as Hotel Rwanda.
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I heartily recommend the book Shake Hands With The Devil by the Canadian General Romeo Dallaire for anyone who wants a serious examination about UN and US policy on Rwanda and the efects as it was seen by the guy who was in charge on the ground when the crap hit the fan.