Teacher The ghosts of Rwanda The film The ghosts of Rwanda is a gut wrenching documentary about the Rwandan genocide in 1995 particularly in the opening scene where dead bodies were shown to illustrate the magnitude of the conflict. The documentary was able to catch the human misery and drama during the Rwandan genocide in the mise-en-scene introduction of the film that told the extent of the violence waged by the Hutus and Tutsis against each other. It was so revolting that the Rwandan genocide is recorded in history as one of the most brutal genocide and also cited the indifference of the world as it just stood by and let the whole atrocity happen.

The story was told both by the victims and the perpetrators as well as the third parties who were supposed to stop the genocide but did not do enough. The details of the horror of the genocide was encapsulated in the scene when a Tutsi woman who appealed to the Belgian journalists to take her and her companion with them to escape the attack of the Hutus. The shame of not doing enough when something could have been done was also encapsulated by an American diplomat who said that it was America’s bad taste not to do enough when people were being massacred. General Romeo Dallaire Commander of the UN Peacekeeping Mission also regretted that 800,000 people died in the genocide that he cannot find solace with the statement that he tried his best. Kofi Anan, the UN Secretary General during that time was also one of the resource person for the interview but his reaction portrayed the indecisiveness of the UN as he advised General Dallaire not to engage when it was already apparent that the Hutus are bent on sabotaging the peace process. He even advised to share intelligence with the Hutu dominated government who was bent on ending the peace process.

The information and probably the lasting impact that the film left to its audience is how ugly and atrocious genocide and extremism is. The killing spree used not only guns but also machetes that spared no one including the Prime Minister. It was so barbaric that the Rwandan genocide in 1995 will probably go down in history as one of the most revolting civil war in mankind’s history. The films that ethnic hatred, when go unchecked can go on a killing spree killing even the highest official in the land (Rwandan President’s plane was shot by a missile and the Prime Minister attacked in her home despite UN security forces). And probably, one of the information given by the film that is as revolting as genocide is the racism exercised by the Belgian forces during the height of the genocide. When the Hutu militia broke loose in killing everyone, it was only western people who are white skinned that was evacuated by the Belgian military. They were under orders not to evacuate ordinary Rwandans no matter how they pleaded for their life that an American diplomat had to say that this left a bad taste in their policy because thousands were killed.

Until now, the Rwanda Genocide in 1995 is always cited when the brutality of genocide is discussed. It goes down in infamy for its brutality, particularly in making machetes famous in hacking people to death and the sickening thought that the whole world just watched and did not do enough to stop the genocide.

Work Cited

“GHOST OF RWANDA.”&nbsp.YouTube. YouTube. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.