Genocide and Hollywood cameos

Rating: 8/10 (21 March 2005)

A great film which brings to attention the events in Rwanda during the outbreak of civil war. However, this could have been a film about any number of recent conflicts around the world, where ethnic, tribal or religious differences have led to similar bloodbaths where the law of violence and hatred take over the streets and towns leading to the indiscriminate murder and mutilation of men, women and children on a harrowing scale.
The film gives just a glimpser of what it was like but in fact does not show the true horror and spare us most of the reality. We see a tiny slice of the horror but the actual figures of 1 million deaths leaves the audience feeling that we were spared - due to budget constraints I imagine - as this is a fairly low budget effort. I'm not sure how much the inclusion of Juaqin Pheonix and Nick Nolte add to the movie in terms of acting performance (as they both look like they played all of their respective scenes in a single day without learning their lines or penetrating their characters) but I suppose they get the movie much needed notice from the press and distributors.
Well worth the watch!