Sometimes in April

Some weeks before coming to Rwanda, we watched “Hotel Rwanda” with friends. I have just watched “Sometimes in April”, an American film with an African director, which predates “Hotel Rwanda”. I don’t know whether it is me that has changed (or got “new eyes”!), but “SiA” seemed to me to give a much better insight into the events of 1994.

It follows a family split by the genocide : 2 Hutu brothers, 1 working for the “hate radio” station, the other an army officer married to a Tutsi woman. By showing real characters on both sides it brings some real illumination of the psychology of the genocide – hate, fear and grief in huge measures. Highly recommended, although of course it’s not easy viewing.