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Starring Roy Dupuis and Deborah Kara Unger


Directed by Roger Spottiswood

Based on the award-winning book Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda by Lietenant-General Roméo Dallaire.


Official Selection-Toronto International Film Festival


In 1993, the United Nations dispatches Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire (Roy Dupuis) to far off Rwanda to oversee a fragile cease-fire. A brilliant, workaholic officer and charismatic commander, Dallaire encounters the shabby reality of a typical UN peacekeeping operation: under-funded, overbureaucratic, and cobbled together from military units from dozens of countries, each with a slightly different agenda. Meanwhile, the peace agreement between the rebels, led by the minority Tutsi ethnic group, and the French-supported government dominated by the Hutu majority group, turns out to rest on shaky ground. When an unknown group shoots down the Rwandan President's plane, the storm breaks and a secret but long-planned genocidal campaign against the Tutsi minority begins with a night of terror in Kigali. A reporter (Deborah Unger) remains in-country and follows General Dellaire as he is forced to deal with far-away superiors and the studied indifference of the world's great powers while trying to take decisive action to stop the genocide of over 800,000 innocent civilians.

SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL will be shown in tandem with Robert Young's acclaimed Nazi war-crimes trial drama EICHMANN, and THE MAGICIAN, Scott Ryan's cheeky mockumentary about an Australian hit man.


112 minutes; 35mm color, Scope, Dolby Digital, stereo, primarily in English; some portions are in French with English subtitles, Rated R for some disturbing violent images and brief strong language.