Excellent except for one thing

Rating: 7/10 (15 April 2005)

It's difficult to imagine the inhumanity and horror of the Rwandan genocide. Yet this film does a good job of conveying it without resorting to excess gore. It also leavens the horror with well timed moments of humour or tenderness. From all accounts it is factually correct. Why then did they not portray Gen. Romeo Dallaire as himself instead of inserting some trumped up fictional character played most unsuitably by Nick Nolte wearing a Canadian flag on his shirt? This detracts from the film and angers Canadians. Most of us regard Dalaire as a compassionate, highly principled hero who was betrayed by the UN. (Read his book, "Shake Hands With The Devil.") The movie tells a terrible story very well. But eliminating Gen. Dalaire is a little like eliminating Eisenhower from "The Longest Day" (Dalaire, incidentally, just recently was appointed to the Canadian Senate.)