Shake Hands with the Devil Review

     General Romeo Dallaire had been through hell and back in Rwanda. He had witnessed the unnecessary murder of hundreds of thousands of people, and his superiors were doing nothing to help him stop the murder of innocent citizens. Dallaire wrote a novel, Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, which is his powerful tale of the failure of the United Nations to protect a people, covering their ears and shutting their eyes, while knowing of the massacres occurring in a little dot on the map of Africa. This was later made into the film, Shake Hands with the Devil, which portrays Dallaire’s experiences in the country as it fell apart around him. 

     Although it is called a drama, the film definitely puts more emphasis on the genocide itself rather than the drama surrounding specific people in Rwanda. The phenomenal acting though, definitely adds and emotional tone to the film that is not as easy to show in a documentary. However, Dallaire was heavily involved n the script and other aspect of the film, and his support also adds to the credibility of the film.

    As this is a Canadian film, most of the cast and people involved were Canadian. Roy Dupuis does an excellent portrayal of Romeo Dallaire, especially compared to other actors that have tried (cough, cough Nick Nolte). He actually looks very similar to Dallaire - the same mustache and even the same demeanor are apparent. In fact, Dallaire insisted on giving Dupuis the army name tag he wore as well as other decorations from Rwanda. The fact that Dallaire felt so strongly about making the film as real and believable as possible just shows the effort that was put into this film. 

     Another great advantage of the film was the fact that it was filmed in Rwanda. It truly added to the realism of the film, because the places where they went were the actual locations where genocide occurred. It added a powerful tone to the movie, because the irreplaceable scenes where torture and rape occurred were brought into the spotlight through the film. 

     A great aspect of the film is the way it highlights the failure of the Western world to try and help Rwanda. Dupuis as Dallaire is constantly on the phone with New York, asking for assistance of any kind, yet he is constantly denied. The strength and valour of the UN soldiers who were abandoned in Rwanda. The lack of weapons and materials did not seem to be exaggerated, as the soldiers had almost no defense against the angry Interahamwe and the government soldiers. 

Shake Hands was a great, yet saddening film that accurately portrayed the issues that Dallaire and his troops had in such a tumultuous, violent part of Rwandan history.