Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire

The documentary is about the Canadian Lieutenant General Roméo Dallaire. In 1994 Dallaire commanded the United Nations force in Rwanda. The force under him was small and poorly resourced. His authority was limited as well. That year a genocide took place in the country. Dallaire called for intervention and got no answer. He could not stop what happened. Ten years later he goes back to Rwanda. The film follows that journey. Dallaire walks again through the places where it happened. What he says is a reckoning both political and personal. He has been treated for post traumatic stress disorder. The guilt did not let go of him for years. The documentary rests on the book Dallaire wrote. Why the international institutions did not act that day is left as an open question. Roméo Dallaire speaks in the ninety minute documentary. It is a Canadian production Peter Raymont finished in 2005.