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Sometimes in April Review

Sometimes in April is a television film on the history of Rwanda covering mainly the

1994 genocide Raoul Peck, a Haitian filmmaker, wrote and directed the film with Idris Elba, Oris

Erhuero, Carole Karemera and Debra Winger as the cast among others. The movie was filmed in

2005. The film is all about April 1994 when the Hutu nationalists in Rwanda fought their Tutsi

countrymen in Rwanda marking one of the Africa’s darkest moments. Over the next 100 days,

people turned against each other tearing families apart and leaving almost 800,000 citizens dead.

Unlike other films covering the genocide such as Hotel Rwanda with a rating of PG-13 which

subtly imply the violence than explicitly showing them, Sometimes in April portrays gruesome

and graphic violence giving it a TV-MA rating.

The drama film covers the actual events that took place in the up rise with a tale of two

brothers, a Rwandan army captain called Augustin Muganza and Honore Butera who worked for

Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines, who found themselves on antagonistic sides of the

conflict whose differing loyalties which changed their lives entirely. They witnessed the killings

of almost one million people, political divisions and loss of their families. The attitude,

circumstances, and issues that led to the uprise and outbreak of violence, the intertwining stories

of the struggle to survive the genocide and the aftermath as people began seeking justice and

reconciliation are all depicted in the film. Muganza forcefully relives the genocide with a
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troubled past of his Tutsi wife and children fate as well as the devastating loss of his friend in the

army while brother is detained awaiting trial in Arusha Tanzania for the role he played in

broadcasting at an extremist radio station which encouraged the killings by broadcasting

propagandas.

The events in Rwanda clearly show true human nature of the ability to demean and

demoralize another community or group of people to an extent of committing murder with no

moral consequences to bare. The racial propaganda against the Tutsis was broadcasted which

made the Hutus to use the assassination of the president as the root of hate, murder, and genocide

towards the Tutsis in Rwanda. The classification of the Tutsis as "Cock-roaches" enabled the

Hutus to demean and demoralize them which made murder acceptable with no moral

consequences. The film clearly shows the use of hate for another religious, political or racial

group as the main method of control throughout the human history. Despite slight coverage at the

end, the United Nations headed by the U.S is seen to have some levels of beaurocracy as well as

hypocrisy and is as much to blame for the genocide for its intrusions.

However, it is important to note that the film is not about pointing a political finger, but

instead, it gives the world a vision of truth. The film comes to an end with a heartfelt message

stating "Never Forget". It is, however, necessary to forget the events as the only way to accept

the tragedies since they happen and can inevitably happen as a result of propaganda. It should be

our initiatives to be a moral race of people and ensure such events as the Rwanda genocide ever

happen again in the future. It is a movie worth watching as it extensively covers the genocide

events.