Shake Hands with the Devil

Shake Hands with the Devil by Roger Spottiswoode will be part of the Special Presentations program.

Based on Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire's award-winning book of the same name, the film tells the story of a Canadian commander torn between his duty and his conscience when he finds himself an eyewitness to hell on earth. Dispatched to Rwanda in 1993 to oversee a fragile cease-fire, Dallaire finds peace agreements between the rebels to be on shaky ground - agreements that end with a secret but long-planned genocide campaign.

At the 2004, I was fortunate enough to see Hotel Rwanda. After the film, I found that there was a documentary playing at the festival about the man on whom Nick Nolte's character was based. It was a powerful documentary about how a man struggled to come back from such attrocities and integrate back into society.