Shake Hands with the Devil

The film Shake Hands with the Devil, directed by Roger Spottiswoode and released in 2007, is a biographical drama that focuses on the events of 1993 and 1994, during the Rwandan Genocide. It tells the story of Lieutenant General Roméo Dallaire, a Canadian soldier who was deployed to Rwanda as the commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR). In April 1993, the United Nations deployed Lt Gen Dallaire to Rwanda, hoping to establish and maintain a peacekeeping mission to monitor the fragile ceasefire agreed upon between the country's various warring factions. However, the mission was grossly understaffed, underfunded, and bogged down by bureaucratic red tape. The UNAMIR force consisted of soldiers from over 20 countries, but unfortunately, their training and equipment varied greatly, which hindered the team's effectiveness. Upon arriving in Rwanda, Lt Gen Dallaire quickly realized that the UNAMIR was dealing with a much more complex and dire situation than initially anticipated. Tensions between the two main ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi, had been simmering for years, but with the assassination of the Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana in April 1994, the killing began. The genocide, orchestrated by the Hutu-dominated government, quickly escalated into a nationwide massacre, with innocent Tutsis and moderate Hutus being hunted down and killed mercilessly. Lt Gen Dallaire, aware of the atrocities unfolding before him, found himself frustrated by the UNAMIR's inability to take decisive action. The force was hamstrung by a lack of manpower and resources, as well as indecisive orders from the UN headquarters. Determined to do what he could, Lt Gen Dallaire took matters into his own hands. He disobeyed orders and began to arm a group of Rwandan Tutsi soldiers, who had been the victims of the genocide. The soldiers, known as the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), had previously been engaged in a civil war against the Hutu government but had accepted a ceasefire in an effort to work towards peace. Determined to prevent further atrocities, Lt Gen Dallaire secretly trained and armed a small group of RPF soldiers, knowing that this act was in breach of UN rules and protocol. Meanwhile, despite the rising death toll, UN headquarters remained resolute in their decision to restrict UNAMIR's actions to mere observation and protection of civilians. The international community refused to provide adequate support to UNAMIR, resulting in the force being left severely under-equipped and lacking in operational capabilities. Torn between obedience to orders and the moral imperative to act, Lt Gen Dallaire continued to defy UN directives, working secretly with members of the RPF to help stop the genocide. However, his actions only brought him into conflict with the UN and the international community. As the months went by, Lt Gen Dallaire found himself struggling to cope with the trauma of the atrocities he witnessed. His efforts to make a difference were consistently thwarted by inaction from his superiors and a lack of resources. The lack of support from the international community was particularly galling, given the clear evidence of the atrocities being committed on a massive scale. Eventually, following the tragic deaths of thousands of innocent civilians, Lt Gen Dallaire, with some members of UNAMIR, abandoned their posts to join the RPF-led efforts to defeat the Hutu forces and end the genocide. Despite the heroic efforts of Lt Gen Dallaire and his small team, their actions were ultimately unable to prevent the massive scale of loss of life in Rwanda during this period. As the years have passed, Lt Gen Dallaire's actions have been recognized as some of the most courageous and selfless undertaken by a peacekeeper in recent history. Unfortunately, despite his brave attempts to stop the genocide, Lt Gen Dallaire's efforts were ultimately overshadowed by the scale of the disaster. The film Shake Hands with the Devil serves as a powerful reminder of the atrocities committed during the Rwandan Genocide and highlights the importance of collective responsibility to prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future.