SHOOTING DOGS
UK, 2005, 116 minutes, Colour.
John Hurt, Hugh Dancey, Dominique Horwitz, Louis Mahoney, Nicola Walker, Claire- Hope Ashitey.
Directed by Michael Caton- Jones.
An impressive cinema achievement. Also impressive in its portrait of a priest and the Catholic Church.
However, the subject of the film is one of the most shameful episodes in human behaviour in recent times: the genocide in Rwanda, 1994. As the dominant Hutus massacred the Tutsis – 800,000 men, women and children were brutally bashed, hit by machetes or shot from April to July – the United Nations peacekeeping force stood by their mandate of not intervening, to shoot only when shot at and the superpowers discussed the definition and application of ‘genocide’. These events took place at the same time as the wars in the Balkan peninsula where the UN and other nations intervened militarily.
David Belton who co-wrote this story and has produced the film for BBC Films, was in fact a BBC director for Newsnight and was present at the events portrayed in the film. He had also reported from Bosnia and asks the questions about race and racism concerning intervention in the Balkans and non-intervention in Africa. Belton says that this is a film from a western viewpoint for western audiences rather than an inside look at the events and their meaning. This is a major means for those who live far away and do not feel connected with places and tragedies to see and to empathise. This was the principle behind such films as Cry Freedom, City of God and Beyond Rangoon.
Shooting Dogs refers to the experience of dogs outside the school grounds where over two thousand Tutsis took refuge and are being sheltered by the resident priest. It is also the designated base for the UN troops. As the dogs scavenge the many brutalised corpses lying out in the streets, the UN chief says they must be shot for hygiene’s sake and to save lives. The priest ironically asks why they can shoot dogs and not the marauding gangs who are butchering innocent people in full view.
The structure of the film is life a diary, 6 days in April 2004 and confined to the school and its surroundings. The opening scenes take us into the daily routine, ordinary things, sports, classes, Mass. Officials turn up to scrutinise the presence of Tutsis. Lists are compiled. When the president is killed by rocket attack, the guns begin to fire and the rampage begins. The president’s UN security guard are executed. No one is safe.
Then the UN troops retreat to the airport taking the Europeans but leaving the Tutsis. While there are many Tutsi characters to empathise with, the screenplay focuses on an idealistic young volunteer teacher (Hugh Dancy) and the shock he experiences and his moral crises in what he can and cannot do. It then centres on the veteran missionary, Fr Christopher, who has spent thirty years in Rwanda. (David Belton says that the priest on whom he based this character was, in fact, from Bosnia.). Fr Christopher is one of John Hurt’s great performances. It is commonsensed, low-key and committed.
The screenplay introduces several spiritual and theological themes: the place of prayer in African life, surface and deep faith, the power of the Eucharist and the issues of God and evil, the meaning of Jesus’ passion and death. In answer to a young girl’s question about loving one’s enemies, Fr Christopher says that God might not like the things we do, those are our choices, but he still loves all of us. The issue of Jesus’ loving sacrifice gives meaning to Fr Christopher’s choices, for giving his life to save others.
Last year, Hotel Rwanda made a strong impression with its story of the man who gave refuge to Tutsis in Kigali’s prestigious hotel. Still to be released in the UK is the powerful Sometimes in April, a story more from the inside and broader in scope about the genocide than the other two films. They are all worth seeing and are complementary.
Shooting Dogs is a film that Catholics and everyone with a sense of justice should support.
1.The strength of the film? The impact? Films of such atrocities? For what audiences? For what purpose?
2.An English experience of the Rwanda genocide, for a western audience? Complementing the stories told by Africans for Africans and for the world?
3.The experience of David Benton, his memories, the tribute to the people that he knew, the tribute to the priest who was killed? The message for the world after the event? The actors and the crew and their experience of the genocide, relatives who were killed? The film using the same locations for the film as where the action happened?
4.The significance of the school, international, Catholic? The students? The priest in charge? The sisters who worked there? Lay staff? In Kigali itself? The authentic atmosphere for the film?
5.The structure, the diary of six days in April? A microcosm of the subsequent months?
6.The meaning of the title, the experience of the scavenging dogs, the United Nations force wanting to shoot the dogs? Their keeping the peace, following orders? The decisions not to fire on any person but on the dangerous dogs? Father Christopher’s comment that the people were doing more killing and were more dangerous than the dogs?
7.The opening with the peaceful atmosphere, ordinary daily life, the games and the running, Joe and his being chirpy, the commentary? A happy atmosphere? The shops, the staff at the school, Father Christopher and the discussions with the sisters? Father Christopher going shopping? What Kigali could have been like?
8.The police and their rounds, the politicians and their suave manner, making enquiries about the United Nations force, making lists of the Tutsis in the area? Seeing the officials later – and the supervision of the massacre?
9.The explanation of the Hutu-Tutsi? clash? The Tutsis in the minority, having the support of the Belgians in the past, the Belgians using them? The Hutu majority, their reaction, forming government? Seeing the Tutsis and calling them as cockroaches? The politics of government, the peace-keeping force? The airport assassination of the president? The news that the UN bodyguard had been killed? Moving beyond law?
10.The Hutu mobs, being roused, running around, the machetes, the drink? The pressure from peers? At the roadblocks? Their surly attitudes towards vehicles and drivers? The machetes, their beginning to hack people to death, the film showing the merciless killings? The animosity, the presumptions, radio propaganda? Peaceful members of the school staff becoming murderous killers?
11.The presence of Joe in Rwanda, his British background, volunteering, teaching? With the children, fooling around, the commentary on the race, friendship with Marie? Father Christopher saying she had a crush on him? The effect on him? In class, the difficult theological questions about the Eucharist, his not knowing how to talk about the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, Father Christopher coming to the rescue? Phoning home – and being cut off? His expectations of his time in Rwanda, the gradual realisation of what was happening, the horror of it, the emotional effect? His going out of the compound to Marie’s home to get her and her family? Discussions with Christopher, Christopher giving his advice – that it was beyond any help from the bishop? The witnessing of the atrocities outside the school? His friendship with television crew, his going to get them, bringing them back, being held up at the roadblock, a sense of helplessness? His interactions with the UN forces? His promise to Marie? The growing desperation, the discussions with Father Christopher about the escape plan compared with celebrating mass? His attending the final mass? His decision to leave – his fears? His later comment in England that he was afraid to die?
12.John Hurt as Father Christopher? Thirty years in Rwanda, a committed priest, an ordinary man, his clothes, manner? Gentle? Helping people? Knowing the language? Going shopping, being interrogated by the government official? Relationship with the UN forces in the school? Celebrating the mass, the people singing? Rescuing Joe in the classroom and the questions about the Eucharist? The limits of what could be done with the uprising? His driving to get the medicine? His finally taking the Tutsi children away, concealing them and their escape? Having the Tutsis in the camp? His welcoming the television crew? The final Communion, the discussions with Joe, his talk about sacrifice, his answer to Marie about God not approving all that we do but loving people nonetheless? Saving the children, the confrontation with Julius, his being shot? His explanation of Jesus dying on the cross, self-sacrifice – and his being a Christ figure?
13.The United Nations, their role, following orders, the reality of the situation, in the school, the officer in charge and his moral dilemmas, reactions to situations, his explanations? The personnel? The reaction to the massacre of the UN forces? On guard, watching the Hutus outside, wanting to shoot the scavenging dogs? The TV personnel? The rescue of the whites? The withdrawal to the airport?
14.The television crew, the reporter and her discussions with Joe? Attitudes, the response to the invitation to come, being held up at the roadblock, the danger, the equipment? Filming? Leaving?
15.Marie, the other children at the school, her family, her father and the friendship with Father Christopher? Her crush on Joe? The questions about God loving people? The Tutsis and the refugees in the camp? The difficult birth, Father Christopher and getting the medicine for the woman? Their attempt to escape, the woman hiding with her baby, the baby crying, their being hacked to death? The people who stayed, Marie’s father and his plea for the UN forces to kill them? The children escaping from the truck? The information that 2500 were killed?
16.The Hutus and their behaviour, barbaric, credible given the history, tribalism in Africa? The aftermath?
17.The picture of the American discussions, the United Nations, the definitions of genocide and the arguing about the meaning?
18.Joe back in England, Marie coming to visit him, Father Christopher’s school, the possibility of reflecting on what had happened? The effect on their lives?
19.A genocide of the 1990s, a horror for the world of the 20th century, people’s ability to learn from such experiences that they not happen again?
