Hey guys! I'm writing a response to a movie I recently watched titled 100 Days by Nick Hughes. The movie follows these two Tutsi families as they attempt to survive the Rwandan genocide that occurred in 1994. What occurred in that genocide are atrocities that one can not even attempt to comprehend, however, that does not mean one should not know about them as many people even nowadays do not. For those of you who don't know the genocide started on April 6, 1994 due to the assasination of the Rwandan President Juvenal. President Juvenal was part of the Hutu clan which were and are in great opposition to the Tutsi clan. This is important to know because it is universally thought that the RPF an organization comprised of exiled Tutsis were responsible for the assasination. Hutu's who already hated the Tutsis due to years of oppression decade back and a belief that Tutsis thought themselves better than them took this opportunity to lash out. They murdered hundreds of thousands of Tutsis. The murder of Tutsis only stopped as the RPF entered Rwanda. However, when they entered they too began their own atrocities and killed many Hutu. In the end, it is thought that any where between 800,000 and 1,000,000 million Rwandans were killed.
100 days is set in this absolute chaos. I think what made the atrocious actions even more appalling was the misleading start of the movie. The movie starts with the two protagonists (Josette and Baptiste) chasing one another. They are in love and their love is portrayed as something ideal and pure. This love misleads one as it is in stark contrast with all the events that happen afterwards.
What sets the movie in motion is the assasination of President Juvenal. When he dies the rug underneath Josette's and Baptiste's lives are pulled right underneath them. Immediately after the assasination a gang of Hutu's come upon Baptiste's house and murders his entire family. Baptiste narrowly escapes but after this the movie is full of atrocities scene after scene.
However, what I find most disheartening is that the evil that occurred in Rwanda was not only committed by the lowly people, but by people who had power and who should of led their society down a more righteous path. The puppeteer behind all the atrocities acts occurring in Josette's and Baptiste town appears to be a normal Hutu man. I did not really see him as a person of power initially but just a man with leadership qualities. I was wrong this man wasn't a normal Hutu but it appeared he was French. Their was a scene where French soldiers pick this man up and basically tell him they are not certain of other people's welfare but that the French will take care of the French. What I understood of this was that since the man was being picked up and being driven to safety that he was French. Therefore,he had colonial power supporting him which would of made him a powerful person. Instead of using his power to help his people and to make a better world for them he drags them to utter chaos. It was he who lit a match on to the gasoline that killed many Tutsi children and it was he who made the speeches that put seeds of hatred into the people's hearts. He was a monster.
Another person who did much the same was a Rwandan priest. Priests are supposed to be men whose morality people strive to have. However, what this priest did was take advantage of families when they were most scared and vulnerable. The priest lies to the families he is taking care of in his church telling them that he will protect their daughters if they go with him. Instead, what he does is take them up to his room and rape them. Josette is a victim of this manipulation and becuase he rapes her she becomes pregnant. This is probably the event that broke Josette's spirit for you see ,although, in love with Baptiste she had saved herself so that when they did get married no one would think they did so because she was pregnant, but more so know that they got married because they were in love. Therefore, her pregnancy really tugged at my heart strings because she had fought temptation so hard only to have what she most did not want to happen with a man who was a complete stranger. The priest was also in the wrong because he had full knowledge that Hutu men were coming and going to kill off all the Tutsis in his church. He tells the Tutsi people nothing and lets the mass killings happen. He was a horrendous man.
Other people in the wrong were the U.N. and the media people. The U.N. abandoned the Tutsis in their time of need and just left them in their churches knowing full well that they would be murdered. They should've of just murdered them themselves in that way they would've been killed more "civilly". The media people also did not do much to help as all they did was make sure there was a camera on people who were being murdered. With all the connection they have you think they would've done more.
Why couldn't anyone do something? The tools were there to prevent the events that occurred so why weren't they utilized? The movie just had me realize how truly racist and prejudice our society is. If this would've been a European nation or any other predominantly white country the atrocities would've been stopped immediately. Instead they went on for approximately 100 days. The international community were as much to blame as the Rwandans who committed the crimes.
This is a video to help you better understand what occurred:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVEQHhsOcFQ
Jackie,
ReplyDeleteI think that your post brings up many very important points. What I'd like to focus on particularly is your last sentence in which you state, "The internation community were as much to blame as the Rwandans who committed the crimes". As we talked about in class, the issue of blame and by extension punishment, is a very difficult to pinpoint. In such atrocities as this, the blame is widespread and does not lie with one party. Though it may have begun with those in power, brainwashing individuals into believing that the Hutus and Tutsis were two distinct and seperate groups, eventually this internalization led to the general public (civilians) commiting murder! It scares me to think that people have the potential to do such horrendous things such as participating in a genocide. But you're right, it is not something that should be forgotten, but rather should be talked about all over the world (so that this does not happen again, in any country). While you say this could never happen in Europe (or that people would stop it if it did), I disagree. I think that people assume this and that is why they do not necessarily care or try to understand the events that have taken place in Rwanda. In fact, I took a Holocaust class and one writer in particular, though I can't remember who exactly at the moment, wanted to counter this idea and wrote a fictional account of the Holocaust in America. This worked to counter the notion that the Holocaust could only occur in Germany and that we Americans/Westerners are far removed from these occurances. Maybe it would be potentially effective to do a reimagining of the Rwandan genocide in America? Maybe that would get people involved and interested! Let me know if you think I'm totally off base here :D-
I more so meant that if this would've happened to a white population it would've garnered more attention. It seems that people of color and of a strong ethnicity are always less important. I would like to rephrase it more so that it could happen to any country however the people that it happens to will always be the same. In America, New Orleans a city with a significant African population was totally dismissed in their time of need. If a natural disaster would of struck a more caucasian population things would've definitely been different.
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