Beyond the Gates

an intense look into the brutality of humanity
this movie should be required viewing for any american who forgets how lucky we all are. the acting is amazing and many scenes in the film are unforgetable. be warned that there are many disturbing images in the film. these aren't gratuitous as they paint the perfect picture of the madness in rwanda in 1994. one of the best films i have seen in a long time.

A Powerful, Deeply Moving Examination of the Rwanda Genocide of 1994
To acknowledge the fact that genocides are still active in our supposedly enlightened times is terrifying, yet through films such as BEYOND THE GATES, HOTEL RWANDA, and SOMETIMES IN APRIL we are gradually bring informed about one particular genocide - that occurred in 1994 in Rwanda - and hopefully will make us as a global population more proactive in stemming the possibility of further acts of brutality and disregard of humanity. Writer David Wolstencroft and director Michael Caton-Jones have created one of the most powerfully poignant films about the genocide of the Tsutsi people by the Hutu people and by placing the film exactly where the genocide happened have added an intensely compelling atmosphere to an act that never should have happened.

In 1994, at the Ecole Technique Officielle, a school for the Rwandan children run by Europeans under the tutelage of Father Christopher (John Hurt) and with idealistic teachers such as the young Joe (Hugh Dancy), the incipient...

A harrowing account of the Rwandan genocide of 1994
Like its predecessors, Hotel Rwanda & Sometimes in April [a HBO presentation], Beyond the Gates is a searing account of the horrors of the Rwandan genocide of 1994 that claimed over 800,000 lives. Yet, this movie is on some levels more poignant as it examines people's faith in the face of human hatred and man's inhumanity towards another.

The movie centers around Father Christopher [John Hurt in an amazingly inspiring performance] who is the parish priest based at the Ecole Technique Officielle, a technical school that is also the base of a UN peacekepping force that is mainly there in the capacity of observers. John Hurt plays the role of the priest here with a strong touch of humanity, humility and love for his parishioners. There is also Joe Connor [Hugh Dancy] who plays an idealistic young teacher who finds himself confused and helpless when the horrors of the genocide become more apparent to him.

Of course, for those familiar with the history of the Rwandan...

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