The passage of a Rwanda Genocide Survivor

Genocide, not the word I am familiar with, not to mention about the background.

Came out from the Lecture hall of the Film Education Seminar Series this afternoon, I was exposed to the world with vivid images of life from the other end of the world. For a visual learner, images always have its powerful impact. The first movie showed this afternoon was a documentary by an independent director, J.R. Rutagarama, who was a victim of the genocide in Rwanda. Within these 73 minutes, I was brought forth to the scenes of the brutal truth of life that happened in the history.

Though I do not know every details of the country, Rwanda is never an unfamiliar place. Starvation and drought, medical aids were requested to send to the place. Other than the starvation, I hardly spend time in understanding the antecedent of the event. Natural disaster seems to be taken for granted for the cause. Tracing back to its’ colonized Belgium governance, people in Rwanda was forced to be chosen for their ethnic groups – Tutsis, Hutus and some others. Civil war within Rwanda was taken place in 1994 between the Tutsis and Hutus. Over half million of Tutsis were massacred by the Hutus in 1996. In the movie, you can see how Hutus killed Tutsis alive on street like the way people killing animals. It’s thrilling. Once a Tutsis was found, Hutus would naturally go and kill him, as natural as you go and get a drink when you are thirsty. Lots of the scenes in the documentary simply made you couldn't stop having an outcry of "oh..no… could somebody do something?"

Director J.B. Rutagarama was the survivor of the Massacre who was lucky enough to be able to speak English and served as a translator for the journalists from the western countries who came to report the exile. As time passed by, people were fell short of basic necessaries, got sick and even died. Dead bodies were just everywhere – around the borders, near the road and even in rivers. The more scary thing was people around seems all got used to it. Rutagarama was lucky enough to be able to survive, fled to England and then adopted by the British journalists. After earning his degree in Film and then worked in New York for a while, Rutagarama thought it was time to go home after witnessing the 9-11 tragedy of the World Trade Centre in 2001. The movie brought us back in seeing his mom again, whom the whole family were killed by Hutus. It couldn't hold my tears when Rutagarama managed to meet her mother again after all these painful experiences. The movie interviewed some other victims and also talked about reconciliation. It was truly a great experience in walking along with a Rwarda Genocide Survivor. Also, it just brought me into the readings of the related historical facts.

Somehow, the ignorance on this brutal fact made me shameful and thereafter bred the urge in sharing it with more people. It's truly a priviledge in working on campus -- you just need to open up and then the world is there.

Movie

Back Home –

Directed by J. B. Rutagarama

http://www.afi.com/onscreen/afifest/2006/project2020/rutagarama.aspx

Trailer:

Source and further Reading

1. By Tim Wassberg -- http://www.movingpicturesmagazine.com/departments/docspot/jbrutagarama
2. Tutsis and Hutus conflicts -- http://www.cnn.com/EVENTS/1996/year.in.review/topten/hutu/hutu.html
3. CNN News -- Rwanda: How the genocide happened (1 April 2004)
4. Rwanda: How the genocide happened - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1288230.stm (extracted on 13 Nov 2007)
5. Wikipedia -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide (extracted on 13 Nov 2007)

Photo source : Wikipedia