Review of Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire (2005) by Walter M — 30 May 2005

[font=Century Gothic]"Shake Hands with the Devil" is a documentary about Romeo Dallaire, who was the commander of the United Nations forces in 1994 in Rwanda as he tried unsuccessfully to prevent the genocide with an underfunded and undermanned mission. Dallaire, whose hands were tied, still acted in the behavior and manner of a professional soldier while saving lives. Afterwards, he suffered mental anguish, by wondering if there was anything more he could have done. The lesson of the movie is that a life is worth saving no matter where they live and that we all have a responsibility to stop this.(And it may be happening again in the Darfur region of Sudan...) [/font].

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[font=Century Gothic]"Shake Hands with the Devil" traces the origins of this genocide back to before 1960 when Rwanda was a colonial possession of Belgium and how those colonialist and racist attitudes fueled the racist hatred. Plus, it explains that this could have been stopped, not only by a better commitment to United Nations forces but also simply by the world's powers taking a stand.[/font].

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[font=Century Gothic]"Shake Hands with the Devil" is an emotionally, powerful documentary. This is absolutely necessary viewing.[/font].

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[font=Century Gothic][color=red]"Moolaade" is a movie from Africa directed by Ousmene Sembene. Six young girls escape to avoid Purification(or to be much less delicate - genital mutilation). Four wind up going to Colle because they have heard that she prohibited her daughter from undergoing the ceremony, even though this was frowned upon by the village elders and might affect her daughter adversely. Colle invokes Moolaade(protection) for the girls. Colle has her reasons for being against the ceremony of Purification. She suffered through the ceremony. Her first two babies were born dead; the third lived but it was a messy affair.[/color][/font].

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[font=Century Gothic][color=#ff0000]"Moolaade" is an intelligent, thoughtful movie about gender roles set in an African village. The only major point against this movie is that it ended on a particularly false note.[/color][/font].