parfois en avril is a historical non-fiction (im unsure really) about rwanda. a country in africa. this movie ranks high, along with other great tragedy films such as schindlers list. its a must watch. its happened, its happening, and its bound to happen in the future. in all cultures. rich or poor. white or black. unless we are all aware of its consequences. esp since its beyond imagination. genocide.facts. rwanda has three kinds of peoples. the tutsis. the hutus. and the twas. the hutus make the majority. they lived side by side in relative peace until the westerners arrived. the germans/belgians created a strict social structure, the tutsis having a higher station than the others, which created deep resentment between the peoples.
this was critical. it divided the country which made it easier to conquer and exploit. this might easily have been north america and the indians or the native tribes of pre-colonial philippines.
much later when the belgians left. they left control to the hutus. the hutus perpetuated the resentment. the hatred. the divisiveness. which culminated into the genocide of all tutsis and moderate hutus. the rest of the world, mostly unaware and busy with their own problems, including the UN stood back and watched. particularly the US, which i would have thought should be the first to be there. but since there is no oil. no clear benefit to its economy or politics. everyone stood back and watched.
the mob is mindless. tell it to jump and they will jump. the question now is. if i had been there would i prostest? would i pretend to be on the side of those in power? would i willingly participate? will i join the mob? its easy to say yes or no. but in retrospect im not really so sure what i would do.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars ****
Humanity at its worst.
1 comment:
Rwanda - that's a real tough problem and situation. We know from history that past efforts (such as USA for Africa, etc.) didn't work because most of the corrupt governments merely pocketed the food aid. So giving direct aid wouldn't work. But it's also tough to interfere through direct military intervention as past experiences in Somalia proved. The question is: How do you help a nation/continent that doesn't seem interested in helping itself?
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