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Beyond the Gates (2007)
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Reviews Counted:59
Fresh:49
Rotten:10
Average Rating:7.2/10
Consensus: Complex, human characters and on-location shooting give Beyond the Gates palpable tension and urgency.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong violence, disturbing images and language.
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Mar 9, 2007 Limited
Synopsis: Joe Connor has come to teach in Rwanda because he believes he can make a difference. When the school becomes a haven for thousands of Rwandans fleeing the genocide, Joe promises his brightest... Joe Connor has come to teach in Rwanda because he believes he can make a difference. When the school becomes a haven for thousands of Rwandans fleeing the genocide, Joe promises his brightest pupil, Marie, that the UN soldiers will protect her from the hordes of extremist militia baying for blood outside the school. But when the UN abandon the refugees, Joe and the school's headmaster, Father Christopher, face an agonising dilemma: should they leave or should they stand firm with the Rwandans. As the UN trucks force their way through the terrified refugees, Joe stares at the tear-stained face of Marie: what should he do? What would you do? Based on real events and filmed at the actual location where this story took place, Beyond the Gates is directed by Michael Caton-Jones and stars John Hurt and Hugh Dancy. It is an emotionally gripping, authentic and powerful recreation of a tragic real life story that took place during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. --© IFC Films [More]
Starring: John Hurt, Hugh Dancy, Dominique Horwitz, Nicola Walker
Starring: John Hurt, Hugh Dancy, Dominique Horwitz, Nicola Walker, Steve Toussaint
Director: Michael Caton-Jones
Director: Michael Caton-Jones
Screenwriter: David Wolstencroft
Producer: David Belton
Story: David Belton, Richard Alwyn
Producer: Pippa Cross
Composer: Dario Marianelli
Studio: IFC Films
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Reviews for Beyond the Gates
Beyond the Gates takes an unflinching look at the start of the Rwandan genocide.
This is a spiritual drama, not a political one, drawing a thick line between our good intentions and the selfish choices we ultimately make.
It simply presents, and assumes that we have the inherent morality to understand that what we are watching is evil.
Though less reassuring and not as dramatically coherent as Hotel Rwanda, it still packs a hard punch.
The film grinds inexorably toward its unsurprising and terrible conclusion with infinite grace but no real suspense.
An intense and gripping drama that makes you realize that this page in Rwandan history deserves to be told more than once, lest history forget.
Movies about Africa often fall into this trap. Righteous indignation is the exclusive province of non-Africans.
Make sure you sit through the credits to learn about the victims who survived and worked on this film ---- extraordinary!
The film chronicles man's inhumanity to man during the Rwandan genocide of 1994, (where) selflessness and selfishness stand side by side ----
There's little respite from the terrible history that this film retells just a determination (made stronger by the faces we see after the credits) to tell it, to be sure that history doesn't forget.
A compelling drama about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the moral heroism of a compassionate priest.
A gripping, terrifying, profoundly touching human drama that's definitely worth seeing.
A gripping fictionalized account of a 1994 incident in Rwanda that became a shocking emblem of the Rwandan Hutus' mass slaughter of the Tutsis.
By keeping most of the action contained to the school grounds and immediate environs, director Michael Caton-Jones creates a claustrophobic atmosphere where fear can fester.
Instead of the latest major studio flummery, do yourself a favor and see this brilliant, low-budget independent masterpiece, one that educates as well as entertains.
Director Michael Caton-Jones doesn't go for obvious pathos or simple outrage. He approaches the picture's theme with a documentary realism that, scene by scene, heightens the drama.
The movie does suggest that Joe's ignorance and sense of privilege, however honorable his intentions, make a dangerous combination.
By dodging cultural and political specifics in favor of a thriller-lite framework Beyond the Gates ends up serving largely as a tribute to the virtues of hindsight.
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