This movie is the most distressing I've ever watched!

Rating: Null/10 (20 February 2005)

My wife and I watched this movie in Fremantle yesterday afternoon and although I had a rough idea about what I was about to watch, the actual movie was far stronger than I had anticipated. The producer, director and writer, Terry George, must be congratulated for bringing to the screen such a horrendous story and yet making that story palatable to the extent that it is nominated for Academy Awards in a number of categories. Beyond that I was struck by the deftness with which he handled the unthinkable through elucidating the reasons the civil war massacres were taking place-the anger that motivated the participants. So often writers leave the audience in complete dark as to these motivations for some terrible event-the perpetrators are: simply fill in the words-mad, evil, stupid, directed, etc. We disagree with the bloodletting but we have no reasons to account for it.
Georges decision to cast Dan Cheadle in the lead role was inspirational-Cheadle handled a demanding role so well that I thought I was watching TV footage or a documentary. All the actors were superb and all contributed to this total feeling of "realness." I could talk about every person on the screen but perhaps my favourite was Fano Mokoena who played the Huto general who maintained the hotel sanctuary. Beyond Mokoena was Nick Nolte's portrayal of a Canadian Peace Keeper-I love Nolte's work but this small role was one of his best.
Please see the movie-it's one of those rare movies that has so much light to shed on a piece of history people would rather not see.