Shake
Hands With the Devil Special Edition in September
2
August 2007
In
1994, Canadian Lieutenant General Roméo Dallaire
was given command of an ill-equipped and under-funded
United Nations peacekeeping force in Rwanda. In
a period of just 100 days, the country’s Hutu
extremists executed more than 800,000 Tutsis with
ruthless efficiency. Genocide had once again blighted
the world. Leading ill-equipped, untrained troops
who did not want to be there and desperately pleading
each worsening day with the UN for reinforcements
and revised rules of engagement, Dallaire was rendered
powerless by his superiors in New York. The inevitable
failure of the peacekeeping mission haunts him to
this day, and the mental anguish of reliving of
the horrors he witnessed more than once drove him
to attempt to end his own life.
Based
on Dallaire's own memoirs (which are at present
being made into a feature by Under Fire
director Roger Spottiswode) Peter Raymont's powerful
and moving documentary follows Dallaire’s
emotional journey back to Rwanda 10 years after
the the event that more than once drove him to attempt
suicide. The result is a resolute and gut-wrenching
indictment of a UN administration and the devastating
consequences of sitting on the sidelines.
Previously
unavailable on DVD, Shake Hands With the
Devil has been announced for a UK DVD release
on 3rd September by Metrodome at the RRP of £19,99.
This Special Edition release has the following special
featured:
- Commentary
by director Peter Raymont;
- Commentary
by TV host Geoff Pevere;
- General
Dallaire book reading;
- Real
To Reel interview with director Peter Raymont;
- Photo
Gallery;
- Reading
List;
- Trailer
Gallery.
