Shake Hands with the Devil Reviews

Dallaire's stalwart stoicism offsets the horrors on display, which are filmed with expectedly solemn slickness.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

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.

Full Review

Then as now, the world recoils as the various documentations of those horrors become available for all who wish to see.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

The filmmaking is a bit scrappy. Still, it's worth seeing.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

Gets [close] to the heart of the matter.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 88/100

The best that can be said of the film is that it is an honorable dud.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

[Director] Spottiswoode's lackluster film fails to offer any fresh perspective on these now well-known events.

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Despite being filmed in many of those actual Rwandan locations, Shake Hands with the Devil is frustratingly distancing.

...suffers from a vibe of familiarity that ultimately prevents it from making any kind of a real impact.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4