For the first time, ‘The 600’ one of the Rwandese movies based on real events of military’s third battalion of 600 soldiers of the former rebel now ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) will be screened at the 2019 Pan African Film & Arts Festival, in February in Los Angeles, California, organisers of the event confirmed on Tuesday.
The film which was produced by Great Blue Production owned by a renowned Hollywood movie maker Richard Hall tells in detailed account, the events in Kigali during the 100 day genocide against the Tutsi between April and July 1994 and the role of 600 former rebel soldiers of the RPF who were stationed in Kigali, in stopping the massacres.
The movie which runs for 117 minutes, according to executive producer Hall has made immense positive impact across the world in changing the narrative concerning the liberation struggle by the RPF in 1994.
The film producer Hall revealed that the idea of making the film came after he visited the Campaign Against Genocide museum situated at the Parliament Building in Kimihurura, a suburb of Kigali during his first trip to Rwanda, which led to producing the documentary 18 months later.
The genocide went on for 100 days and through the eyes of 3rd battalion alias The 600 and people they rescued, they recount the real events that took place by giving testimonies in the movie.
Several Hollywood movies have attempted to capture the 1994 Rwanda genocide among them Hotel Rwanda (2004), Shooting Dogs (2005), and Sometime In April (2005).
However, some of these movies have attracted their fair share of criticism, especially from genocide survivors who thought they know better.
One thing found offensive about one of these movies entitled ‘Shooting Dogs’ is a particular scene where a white Roman Catholic priest decides to stay with the refugees, rather than be evacuated along with his expatriate colleagues.
Shooting Dogs actually refers to a scene in the film where peacekeepers are not allowed to shoot dogs that are eating corpses because they are told they can only shoot at things that shoot at them first.
CU/as/APA