Shooting Dogs (2005)

Directed by

Michael Caton-Jones

Genre

drama film

Country

Germany, United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 55m

Rated

R

Rating

7.5 of 10 from 163 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

During the 1994 Rwandan genocide, a Catholic priest and an English teacher become trapped at a school compound as Hutu extremists attack the Tutsi refugees inside. The film follows their struggle to survive while UN soldiers stand by, unable to intervene.

harrowingbleaktensesombergroundedvisceraldisturbingsolemnclaustrophobic

What happens

Shooting Dogs, released in the United States as Beyond the Gates, is a 2005 film directed by Michael Caton-Jones and starring John Hurt, Hugh Dancy and Clare-Hope Ashitey. It is based on the experiences of BBC news producer David Belton, who worked in Rwanda during the Rwandan genocide. Belton is the film's co-writer and one of its producers. The setting of the film is the École Technique Officielle (ETO) in Kigali, Rwanda, in 1994, during the Rwandan genocide. Hurt plays a Catholic priest (loosely based on Vjekoslav Ćurić) and Dancy an English teacher, both Europeans, who are caught up in the events of the genocide. Unlike Hotel Rwanda, which was filmed in South Africa using South African actors, the film was shot in the original location of the scenes it portrays. Also, many of the massacre survivors were employed as part of the production crew and in minor acting roles. The film's title refers to the actions of UN soldiers in shooting at the stray dogs that scavenged the bodies of the dead. Since the UN soldiers were not allowed to shoot at the Hutu extremists who had caused the deaths in the first place, the shooting of dogs is symbolic of the madness of the situation that the film attempts to capture. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• Sometimes in April (2005)
• Hotel Rwanda (2004)
• Ruanda – The Day God Walked Away (2009)
• Bazigaga
• The Day God Walked Away
• Trees of Peace (2021)
• 100 Days (2001)
• Our Lady of the Nile (2019)