Devil of a Remembrance

Canada's peacekeepers have played an increasingly vital role in modern world trouble spots since the close of WWII. Before the war on terror, the United Nations' blue beret became almost synonymous with Canada's rise as a nation committed to helping others achieve peaceful ends to conflict.

That all changed in 1994.

That was when the ugly word, genocide, began to circulate regarding the tribal battles in Rwanda. But why didn't the blue berets do anything to stop it?

This November 11, one of the more modern stories of Remembrance will involve a screening of the theatrical movie, Shake Hands With the Devil, followed by discussion about the film and book led by Ern Dick and Nancy Hall.

It's the first of a new King's Theatre promotional series called Pages and Popcorn. The series features films derived from books, or films where books were written afterwards, to engage people with a passion for both film and reading.

Although this story might raise eyebrows on Remembrance Day, theatre GM Geoff Keymer said the scheduling was a happy accident - or unhappy depending on your perspective.

"The book has been controversial, the film has been controversial, and it's a great stimulus for engaging conversation," said Keymer. "It's topical at the moment with what's happening in the Middle East and Afghanistan, and the controversy over what our troops are doing in those areas."

The theatrical film stars Canadian Roy Dupuis as UN general RomÈo Dallaire and is about Dallaire's ignored attempts for UN aid to halt the genocide happening in Rwanda. The film is based on Dallaire's tome, "Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda". A CBC documentary of the same name was released in 2004.

Although the documentary received critical praise, the feature film wasn't so lucky. Variety reported its rollout as destined for TV and being of interest mainly to Canadians - where Dupuis and Dallaire are household names.

"Told in flashback and framed by the clunky device of having Dallaire relate his story to a psychiatrist, 'Shake Hands' trudges dutifully through the key events that set the stage for 100 days of ethnic cleansing by insurgent Hutus against Rwanda's Tutsi minority," said Variety. "There is little sense of Dallaire's escalating rage, even when, in an astonishing blunder, the UN prohibits him from raiding a large weapons storehouse, the loss of which might have put a significant crimp in the militant Hutus' assault."

Putting the real-life tragedy into another perspective, Dallaire estimated 800,000 Rwandans died during fighting - compared to just 15 UN deaths. It's not a huge leap to imagine the scars carried by those UN veterans today.

However, for local audiences who might not have read the book or seen the documentary, the Nov. 11 matinee and much-anticipated following discussion will make for a solid introduction to learning more, but you might not have to rush out to rent the CBC take.

"We're hoping there's enough interest on Sunday," said Keymer. "If there's enough interest, we'll show the CBC documentary to that same group of people - and hopefully bring another point of view into that discussion."

It's something not to be missed. Shake Hands With The Devil begins at 2 p.m. Nov. 11.