Shooting Dogs is a gripping and emotional story of two men's struggle for survival when caught up in the brutal Rwandan genocide in 1994. A true story about the slaughter of 800,000 men, women and children in 100 days, it is directed by Michael Caton-Jones, written by David Wolstencroft, and co-written by BBC journalist David Belton, who was working in Rwanda at the time.

John Hurt plays Father Christopher, a Catholic priest who has been based in Africa for decades and who is slowly losing his faith in the wake of the ceaseless massacres. Joe (Hugh Dancy) is an idealistic British student has come to Rwanda on a gap year to work as a teacher at the school run by Fr. Christopher.

The story quickly moves to how the school where Fr. Christopher and Joe are based becomes a safe haven for thousands of Tutsi refugees when the Rwandan president Habyarimana is killed and Hutu militia begin to turn on the minority Tutsi civilians throwing the country into chaos. While the characters are fictional the setting is real with Shooting Dogs filmed on the actual site of the massacre at the school using survivors in the cast and crew.

As with the Oscar-winning Hotel Rwanda, the film explores the powerful dilemma of UN peacekeepers whose mandate in Rwanda did not allow troops to engage in active interference of the kind desperately needed. The school in Shooting Dogs is protected by Belgian peacekeeping troops under UN Capitaine Delon (Dominique Horwitz). However they cannot maintain peace, or even protect civilians, but must simply monitor or watch the situation as it degenerates.

The attitudes of the West towards Africa are also portrayed in this film, as pressure from the top highlights the priority to evacuate the European expatriate community with no concerns for Rwandans. Further, a BBC correspondent (Nicola Walker) stationed there says of witnessing the atrocities 'they're just more dead Africans'.

This film is not a chronological set of events of the Rwandan genocide, rather it is a microcosm of one of the many horrific massacres carried out against the Tutsi people by the aggressive Interhamwe or Hutu militia gangs.

Although there has been an emergence of films covering the Rwandan genocide of late, Shooting Dogs is a human account of one of the worst atrocities of the twentieth century and seeks to raise awareness of the genocide. Shooting Dogs is an immensely powerful and moving story made even more harrowing by the fact that it is filmed on the site and features actual survivors. This is a film that Rwandans want the world to see, and everyone should grant them that.

Rated 16 (see IFCO website for details)
Shooting Dogs is released on 31st March 2006.
Shooting Dogs – Official website