Saturday, April 21, 2012

Kinyarwanda (DVD REVIEW)



Kinyarwanda
DVD Review by Kam Williams

Chilling Drama Revisits Rwandan Genocide

“The funny thing about genocide, you never know who’s knocking.” That chilling voiceover just past the opening credits sets the tone for Kinyarwanda, a moving series of vignettes revisiting the 1994 Rwandan Civil War from the inside out. The film marks the brilliant directorial debut of NYU film school alum Alrick Brown, whose emotionally-engaging ensemble drama made quite a splash at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival where it won the Audience Award in the World Cinema category.
Employing a cinematic technique effectively employed in Crash, the picture revisits the genocide in Rwanda from the perspectives of individuals hopelessly immersed in the conflict. The net result is an absorbing adventure which forces the audience to invest emotionally in the diverging fates of a variety of complex individuals as opposed to the narrowly-drawn, one-dimensional characters usually served up in war flicks.
What was it probably like to live in a country where, for three months, members of two contentious tribes, the Hutus and Tutsis, hacked each other to death in hand-to-hand combat? And how were they finally able to bury the hatchet, or should I say machete, and embrace a peace process putting the country on a path to unity and reconciliation?
These are the sort of questions Kinyarwanda eloquently addresses not by depicting mob scenes of senseless slaughter, but rather by painting a number of micro tableaus involving people simply trying to survive in the wake of the collapse of civilization. For, whether you’re watching an introspective army Lieutenant (Cassandra Freeman), a spineless Catholic priest (Mazimpaka Kennedy), an empathetic, Muslim mullah (Mutsari Jean), a coldblooded guerilla leader (Edouard Bamporiki), an innocent, little boy (Hasasan Kabera), or a teenager (Marc Gwamaka) with a crush on a cute girl (Hadidja Zaninka) from the proverbial wrong side of the tracks, you have an opportunity to bear witness in intimate fashion to everyday situations similar to what ostensibly truly transpired.
Based on actual events, it was quite surprising to learn the role that Islam played in the cessation of hostilities once the mufti ordered that all the nation’s mosques serve as safe havens for refugees, regardless of ethnicity. Congrats to Alrick Brown for making the most of a micro-budget and for coaxing great performances out of a cast comprised mostly of unprofessional, Rwandan actors touched by the tragedy.
An inspirational, modern morality play apt to restore your faith in humanity.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
In English and Kinyarwanda with subtitles.
Running time: 100 Minutes
Distributor: Breaking Glass Pictures
DVD Extras: Commentary with the director, cinematographer and star Cassandra Freeman; The Making of Kinyarwanda; Kinyarwanda Comes Home; poster and stills gallery; the film’s shooting script; and The Final Take: a brief memoriam of AD Steve Ntasi.

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