Educational Media Reviews Online

In 1994, approximately 800,000 Tutsis were killed in genocide in Rwanda. As a result of this immense violence, approximately 100,000 Rwandans are imprisoned; many of which were imprisoned as minors in 1994 and are still awaiting trial. Pressure from human rights groups who oppose the prolonged imprisonment without trial and the excessively poor conditions in the prisons, along with pressure from Rwanda’s genocide’s victim’s families have compelled the Rwandan government to speed up the hearing process.

The government has returned to an old Rwandan system of tribunal justice called Gacaca, whereby citizens of a community sit on a hillside and try the accused in a very short period of time. Some hearings are only a matter of a few minutes. This certainly speeds up the sentencing process, but many Rwandans insist that the proceedings do not allow them to express personal feelings and therefore many malefactors go free.

The documentary offers three examples of such Gacaca hearings and each provides insight into the process by offering interviews with the accused and, depending on the case, the victims’ remaining families. This is a fine film which will fuel many lively discussions not only on the issue of justice in Rwanda, but justice in the face of heinous crimes against humanity. There is but one forewarning for this film; it immediately dives into the topic of Gacaca without providing history of the situation in Rwanda. One must have a good body of background knowledge of the Rwandan genocide before viewing this film. An excellent documentary which effectively supplies that history is Forsaken Cries: The Story of Rwanda (1997) produced by The African Project: The Institute for Policy Studies, Amnesty International USA. The two films make great companions to supply the audience with ample information and thought-provoking insights on this ghastly, and often sadly overlooked, tragedy.