While there have been a number of documentaries and feature films about the Rwandan genocide, few have examined the reality of living in Rwanda today, where surviving Tutsis live alongside the Hutus who killed their families and friends. This documentary, filmed over the course of a decade in one country town, follows the progress of the Gacaca ('justice on the grass') hearings, in which communities decide their own sentences for genocidal crimes committed by their members. It was fascinating – and confronting – to see women coming face to face with the men who had killed their husbands and sons, and to hear their reflections on whether the Gacaca process would bring them peace.
Director Anne Aghion gives her subjects plenty of room to speak, and, in fact, this would be my main criticism of the film: that the narrative could have been better-shaped by the addition of some minimalist narration. I respect the non-interventionist style of the film but feel that it would have benefitted from a little exterior context. There were also interesting moments in the film where it was ambiguous as to who was telling the truth – were the victims calling for blood even though the men they accused had not killed their family members, or were the perpetrators just too afraid to own up to their crimes in the harsh light of day? This was a fascinating dynamic, and, again, it could have benefitted from some outside analysis. It remains to be seen whether the Gacaca hearings will achieve their ends in bringing peace and reconciliation to Rwanda, and this film is a valuable document of this extraordinary process.
Three stars.
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