Frontline: Ghosts of Rwanda (2004)

FRONTLINE marks the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide with a documentary chronicling one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century. In addition to interviews with key government officials and diplomats, the two-hour documentary offers eyewitness accounts of the genocide from those who experienced it firsthand. FRONTLINE illustrates the failures that enabled the slaughter of 800,000 people to occur unchallenged by the global community.

Murder while the world stood by

Genocide is not pretty, but is especially ugly when it takes place in the full sight of civilized nations with a supposed historical aversion to the slaughter of innocents. But in 1993, in Rwanda, a genocide of enormous proportions occurred, unstopped by the United Nations, the United States and the rest of the world. "The Ghosts of Rwanda" tells the story of the Hutu-Tutsi conflict, using archival footage and interviews with a range of participants. The footage is raw, with many images of clusters and fields of butchered human bodies. The interviews with the-UN Secretary Madeleine Albright, UN head Kofi Annan, and UN commander Romeo D'Allaire are fascinating and maddening at the same time. D'Allaire emerges as the story's tragic figure --the man who knew what was happening and was given no latitude to do much about it. Albright and Annan (and US President Bill Clinton, seen in interviews and footage of his speeches) come across as less sympathetic, and less believable as they attempt to frame their failure to act in political terms. Other voices of those on the ground -- aid workers, reporters and locals on both sides of the divide -- provide the on-the-scenes details of how the horror unfolded.

For all the savagery of the genocide, there is a strange emotional detachment about the film. Aside from the aftermath of brutality, there is little to show of the madness and hysteria of the acts as they occurred. "Ghosts" does not capture the seething hatred and resentments that drove the murders. This might lead viewers to see Rwandan genocide as just another brutal day in a savage land. Only one victim, Valentina, evinces the lingering terror and betrayal of the period. A 12-year-old at the time, she was hacked and left for dead among the corpses of family and friends in a church used as a refuge. Only one scene -- of a white evacuee being whisked to safety past te faces of equally deserving Rwandan, visually tells the story of the abandonment of Rwanda's Tutsi's to their fate.

"Ghosts of Rwanda" is compelling and horrifying but not as moving as it needs to be to provoke the searching for the soul lost to political expediency. If the Holocaust-era slogan "Never again" had not lost it meaning in the face in the Rwandan genocide, it might be used as a rallying cry in its aftermath. September 1, 2008

Would have been good, had I not been in the wrong region!

The above title says it all.
I live in another English speaking country, and paid for - but cannot watch - this DVD,
Derek July 27, 2008

A stunning documentary

This was an amazing DVD. It shows a bunch of footage and pictures taken by journalists in Rwanda during the genocide. The man in charge of the UN peace keeping forces is among those interviewed in this documentary and the documentary is largly narrated by him and people like him, people who saw the genocide first hand. The documentary is humbling and will keep you glued to your set. It does contain extremely graphic images, many bodies of dead people, and there is even a scene that shows, from afar, some Hutu's hacking some Tutsi's to death so this is not for the feint of heart. The film is one of the best documentary's that I have ever seen and my library of documentary's is an extensive one. This DVD is well worth your time and money. May 24, 2008

An eye/heart opener

Having been present on the spot, I would advice the client, interested to learn about USA, France, Belgium & so many others involvment in the genocide to choose this movie as a must have. All the other ones (Do prefer "Shooting dogs" & "Sometimes in April", Support "Hotel Rwanda" & reject "100 days") November 25, 2007

ghosts of rwanda

I have been working in Rwanda, and I am trying to learn more about what happened during the war and genocide. I chose to see the film to see how it compares to the books I have been reading. I believe that it helps one understand both the reasons for which such national events occurred, as well as what the grotesque inaction of the UN was, as well as that of individual nations who could easily have intervened unilaterally to stop the killing...but did not, because of some pretense wrapped up in some political packaging for making the heads of the international community feel better. And the film makes one consider that the world community, especially the UN, was so inept and callous that they could probably make the same bad decisions again, should such an event occur again. See this film....but also read the books that are available on the subject. October 21, 2007

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