Review of Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire (2005) by Tiffany A — 18 Sep 2005

It appears I could not get away with editing an entry and letting it rest. Without that update thing going off, nobody noticed. heh.

So, I watched the CBC documentary "Shake Hands With the Devil" last eve, detailing Canadian general Romeo A. Dellaire's ill fated "peacekeeping" mission to Rwanda in late 1993 - 1994, which saw the entire UN council basically send the message to humanity that economic health of a country defines how much the rest of the world cares about it.

Opportunities arose to stop the genocide, which killed 800,000 people in 100 days, but the world just didn't care about "tribal" African wars.

So, Gen. Dellaire was forced by his conscience to remain in hell with 300 "troops" that were practically useless, defending who they could while the cries of death fell on deaf ears elsewhere.

One person interviewed pointed out that North American attention at the time was obsessed with that OJ trial BULLSHIT, and Rwandan slaughter was a news footnote.

From my own experience, this was true. (No, I didn't give a fuck about OJ, but since the news was blanketed with it, I stopped paying attention to anything) I didn't know the extent of this for many years after it happened, and it should also be said that a fat-cat N.A. loser (like we all are on this continent, with few exceptions I am not qualified to judge, being one of the unwashables) wouldn't have done a damn thing about it regardless.

This is one the greatest shames to fall upon the shameful species of humanity in recent years.

The film makes that clear. Though there are some few pieces of footage showing slaughter with clubs and machetes from a far distance (sorry, gorehounds), the film disdains the use of sensational imagery in getting to the real story of how the world at large failed those people.

As did I myself. I will not point the finger at others without identifying my own mistakes.

At that time, I was without direction, even more so than recently, and I was in my early 20's. Canada was hamstrung by a lack of bodies in the Armed Forces. I could have joined up at that time.

Would I have made a difference? Probably not.

Am I suited to the military? Nope. I don't feel so.

But, the fact is that would have been an option for me to at least direct my energy towards something useful. I don't want to be in the army, and I never will be, barring some world conflict that sees reinstitution of the draft. (Sure to come when oil supplies get even thinner, unless we get serious about alternate fuels).

Having said that, I don't feel one can blame others when one is not willing to do what is in one's power to help.

Gen. Dellaire is not your typical military man as far as speaking his mind goes, and he gives it all to you in this film, marking 10 years since he had been to Rwanda.

The man had a breakdown after the betrayal of his unit by the UN and several member countries left him powerless to stop what he was screaming to anybody that would listen was inevitable. He blames himself for what happened. He has attempted suicide, because he cannot shake the images from his mind.

Today, he is climbing slowly back to mental stability. The trip back was part of that.

It is a sympathetic look at the General, though there are some parts that acknowledge that some people in Belgum think he is a criminal. The way the story is presented would seem to make that claim total hogwash.

But it is really a story about how you, I, and everybody else FAILED in the quest to be human.

This story will reoccur in another setting, I am sure. Humanity is too base, too foul, and too selfish to avoid it.

I hope, when the time comes, that I am better prepared.

I know I won't be, though.

Shame on me.

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I finished "We", and was relieved to find that "love is the answer" was not the predominant message at the end.

The foreward claimed that this book was perhaps more hopeful than the bleak outlooks of 1984 and Brave New World, but in the end I found the tone to be reminiscent of the latter, which is hardly an insult.

While I do not like it as well as the other two, it is worth a look.