Shake Hands with the Devil (2007)
Average Rating: 5.5/10
Reviews Counted: 11
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 5
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 4.5/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 3
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 4,196
Movie Info
Director Roger Spottiswoode brings a very special film realization of the acclaimed best-seller by General Roméo Dallaire to the screen in "Shake Hands with the Devil," the story of a Canadian commander torn between his duty and his conscience when he finds himself eyewitness to hell on Earth. In 1993, the United Nations dispatches Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire (Roy Dupuis) to far off Rwanda to oversee a fragile cease-fire. A brilliant, workaholic officer and charismatic commander, Dallaire
Cast
-
Roy Dupuis
Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire -
Deborah Kara Unger
Emma -
James Gallanders
Maj. Brent Beardsley -
Jean-Hugues Anglade
Bernard Kouchner -
Odile Katesi Gakire
Agathe -
Owen Sejake
Ghanian Gen. Henry Anyi... -
Michel Mongeau
Luc Marchal -
Tom McCamus
Phil Lancaster -
Remy Nsanga
Maggen -
Michel Ange Nzojibwami
Col. Bagosora -
John Sibi-Okumu
Booh-Booh -
Daniel Janks
Troute -
Craig Hourqueie
Willem/Robert -
Akin Omotoso
Paul Kagame -
John Matchikiza
Habyarimana -
Intore Masamba
Marcel -
Lena Slachmuijilder
Odette -
Alex Kamanzi
Jean-Pierre -
Chris Torne
Ambassador Rawson -
Patrice Faye
Col. Poncet -
Stephen Backingam
British Ambassador
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All Critics (11) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (6) | Rotten (5)
The best that can be said of the film is that it is an honorable dud.
Top CriticDallaire's stalwart stoicism offsets the horrors on display, which are filmed with expectedly solemn slickness.
Though the film, based on Dallaire's memoir, can veer toward deification of the general, it's hugely effective in illustrating the grotesque power plays that led to the deaths of more than 800,000 Tutsis.
Gets [close] to the heart of the matter.
[Director] Spottiswoode's lackluster film fails to offer any fresh perspective on these now well-known events.
Despite being filmed in many of those actual Rwandan locations, Shake Hands with the Devil is frustratingly distancing.
What ultimately characterizes Shake Hands with the Devil is its cumbersome sense of contrition, but the film seems only foggily aware of what its apologizing for.
Then as now, the world recoils as the various documentations of those horrors become available for all who wish to see.
The filmmaking is a bit scrappy. Still, it's worth seeing.
Beautifully filmed, brutally frank, and forceful in its political message - in support of active peacekeeping - this is a powerful film that's not to be missed.
...suffers from a vibe of familiarity that ultimately prevents it from making any kind of a real impact.
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Movie: ID: 770676351 Title: Shake Hands with the Devil Release Date: 2010-10-29 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
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A good but not-so-great movie about the unfortunate Rwandan Genocide. The movie shows how a General is nothing but a puppet whose strings are moved as per his Major's wishes. It displays the helplessness of a man to help others only because he hasn't received the necessary 'orders'. Though their army is equipped, its hands are tied by the "Shoot only when you're shot at" type of orders that leave them almost defenseless. Hats off (okay, just noticed that I'm not wearing even a single hat right now, so postponing the 'hats off' act until unmentioned time) to those who can keep their cool even under such stressful conditions. I wish I could borrow a bit of it.