Peter Bregg/Maclean's Return to Rwanda: Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire in the documentary "Shake Hands With the Devil." Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of General Romeo Dallaire (now a Canadian Senator). A must see movie. 5/5. One of the best Canadian films ever made. Winner of the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award and Philadelphia Film Festival Jury award. A favorite at the recent ITFF.

This movie is brilliant. It deals with the Rwanda Genocide in which 800,000 innocent women, men and children were murdered by extremists. The movie uses powerful imagery.

Rwanda is a very beautiful country. The movie opens with vivid imagery of the beautiful land and its wonderful people enjoying the outdoors and having a picnic. The lush green fields remind us of Eden. Humanity takes a back seat, however, when the President is assassinated in a plane crash and extremists take centre stage in the context of an emerging civil war between entrenched armed groups divided along ethnic lines.

In 100 days-between April 6 and July 16, 1994-an estimated 800,000 men, women and children were brutully killed in the small obscure African country. The majority of the victims, many horrifically hacked to death with machetes, were predominately Tutsis, and moderate Hutus who supported them. The Genocide was planned in advance as the extremists prepared detailed lists of their victims prior to the Genocide. Many of the tactics remind us of the Nazis. Isolate the victims, identify them for easy murder, and then arm your extremist murderers and inflame passions by blaming the victims. The slaughter that follows is truly horrific.

In this madness one man stands his ground with noble and brave UN troops, who are poorly armed, few in numbers but noble, firm  and brave in character. They represent angels amidst a sea of demons and devils. Canadian Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire leads the UN. He refuses to abandon the people of Rwanda even when ordered to evacuate for his own safety. When told that no help will be arriving he states: It does not matter as we are not going anywhere! We will not abandon the people of Rwanda under our protection to slaughter!"

In this moment he attains glory and he personifies everything that is great about Canada and the United Nations notwithstanding the failure of the leadership at the UN Headquarters in New York.

A few brave men outnumbered and outgunned hold their ground against impossible odds and do the right things. Amazing Grace under Fire!

The movie is a masterpiece and you should not miss this one. It has received several international awards including Sundance Film Festival Audience Award and the Philadelphia Film Festival Jury Award Best Documentary. A favorite at the recent TIFF, in Toronto.