Sometimes In April

A Chilling Movie Reviewed

Houston, Texas – “The killings were not accidental or spontaneous.”
Former President Bill Clinton

 The Houston Museum of African-American Culture and the arts organization, Our Image Fest, held a free showing of the film, Sometimes in Rwanda, at the Shape Community Center in Houston, Texas, on Friday, August 26th.

When the Belgians gave control of Rwanda to the Hutus in 1959, they set the stage for resentment, competition and violence between the Hutu, Tutsi and Tsu nations. At that time, the Tutsi’s were banished and forced into exile in neighboring countries.

In 1993 a power-sharing agreement was formed between the Hutu and Tsuti’s, however, because of the years the Tutsi’s were in exile, they began returning, having been educated, more accustomed to a better way of life and sought to assert their rights to power.

During the commission of this tragedy, over 800,000 people were killed as a result of the fighting and criminal acts committed between the Hutus and the Tsutsi nations.  According to the CIA Factbook, the nation suffers from a high infant mortality rate, lower population growth rates and a high mortality rate from AIDS.

Amidst rumors and reports of mass killings in outlying areas, things had been relatively agreeable until the plane carrying the President of Rwanda was shot down and he was killed. Within one day 8,000 people were reported to be killed. A girls Catholic school, supposedly off-limits to fighters, was invaded and most of the girls were killed, many raped beforehand.

The month April, 1994 in Kigala, Rwanda holds special meaning for every citizen because of the mass genocide committed during that period which forever changed the lives of generations of Rwandans. The tragedy began in April and lasted for a little more than 100 days.

Told through the eyes of two brothers, the film, which was shot in Rwanda at the actual sites of the killings, rapes and decapitations, took viewers on a gripping journey which chronicled the day by day loss of lives on both sides.

 

Factored into the equation of the tragedy was the lack of action on the part of the United Nations and the United States. More time was spent
“fact-finding” and defining what constituted the term  “genocide” than was spent on dedicating
resources to help.

During the commission of what the film producers depict as genocide, over 800,000 people were killed as a result of the fighting and criminal acts committed between the Hutus and the Tsutsi nations. According to the CIA Factbook, the nation suffers from a high infant mortality rate, lower population growth rates and a high mortality rate from AIDS.