Sometimes in April

One of the best films of the new year,
HBO continues to make exceptional films that should be seen in theaters and Sometimes in April is no exception. Without sensationalizing the violence of the Hutus against the Tutsis in 1994, director/writer Raoul Peck nonetheless dramatizes the horror of the mass murder that took place in Rwanda.

One scene in particular illustrates the contrast of vicious Hutu army killers with the heroism of their victims. The Hutu army has stormed a Christian Preparatory School for girls and found a young black teacher with fifty or so of her students hiding in a large classroom space. The army officer demands that the Hutus among the girls step away from their classmates, not knowing that the girls have already decided to stay together and support each other. The officer becomes frustrated with the rejection of his order and opens fire with his men killing all but three of the young women.

Time and again cowardly, machete wielding Hutu thugs are confronted with the heroism...

Even more powerful than Hotel Rwanda
Sometimes In April is a shocking portrayal of the lives of Rwandan survivors Augustine Muganza (excellently played by Idris Elba) and Sister Martine (talented Pamela Nomvete). While lacking the flair of Hotel Rwanda, `Sometimes' makes up for flash with brutal reality of the atrocities committed in 1994.

The movie bounces back and forth between the genocide in 1994 and 2004, when Augustine's brother Honore is on trial for his involvement with the genocide through his radio broadcasts on RTLM "Hutu Radio" show. Honore was a journalist who got caught up in the propaganda he spewed out over the airwaves, until the violence comes to his own family.

In 2004, Augustine is with Martine, and the movie goes backward in time from Honore's trial to document the horrors that both Augustine and Martine survived. This made for HBO movie is much more graphic than theater-released Hotel Rwanda, brutally shoving into your face the mass murder of innocent catholic schoolgirls,...

A Film Even More Powerful for its Simplicity of Presentation
The gruesome tragedy of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 absolutely must become public knowledge if we are to maintain the watch for symptoms of similar acts in the present and the future. HOTEL RWANDA was a fine film that capitalized on the heroism of one man, and justly so, for his selfless vision that saved many lives. But as far as a film that relates the same story without the emphasis on one hero, SOMETIMES IN APRIL is for this reviewer more powerful: the genocide speaks more loudly because it focuses on the victims.

Writer/Director Raoul Peck has created a stunning impact with this film made for HBO. The details of the history of the rebellion of the Tutsis against the Hutus is clearly explained and made far more understandable than in previous efforts. Peck wisely utilizes the talents of Idris Elba and Carole Karemera as the husband and wife of mixed marriage and it is their story of survival and witness that makes this examination of Rwanda so intense. Oris...

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