KINYARWANDA IMPRESSIONISTICALLY RECREATED THE RWANDA GENOCIDE AND AFTERMATH
Impressionistic painters place dots on a canvas, allowing viewers to organize what they see into a coherent picture. Although perhaps not deliberately, that is what Kinyarwanda does in trying to depict the Rwanda genocide of 1994. Scenes are organized with subtitles, flashbacks, flashforwards, and other scenes during 1994. Some of the scenes take off where earlier frames leave off, but the entire experience may seem a puzzle with occasional glimmers of enlightenment. Directed by Alrick Brown, with dialog in English, French, and the Rwandan language (Kinyarwanda), the film confronts an ugly past in several ways: (1) reenactment of scenes of violence, (2) portrayal of Rwandans who huddle together, anticipating their death, (3) demonstrations of friendship between the various ethnic groups (Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa) and religious groups (Catholic and Muslim), and (4) confessions of those who did the killing in a reeducation camp during 2004. Based on true stories, the Political Film Society has nominated Kinyarwanda as best film exposé and best film on human rights and peace of 2011. MH
IN DARKNESS SHEDS LIGHT IN LWÓW’S SEWERS DURING WORLD WAR II
For 14 months a group of Jews who had dug their way into the sewers of Lwów, Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine), hid from the Nazis until 1945, when Russian troops liberated the city, Simon Wiesenthal’s hometown. Leopold Socha (played by Robert Wieçkiewicz), whose job is to manage the sewer system, at first sees an opportunity to drain them of their wealth by bringing food and keeping them secret. In time, however, he bonds with them and even pretends to receive money when their cash and jewels are exhausted. The film, which is dedicated to the survivors, is based on the book In the Sewers of Lvov: A Heroic Story of Survival from the Holocaust (1991) by Robert Marshal. But to see how they lived and the perils they faced, filmviewers must be prepared to experience 145 minutes of filthy bodies, rats, and plenty of suspense as crises emerge and emotions surge. Perhaps that is the only way to have any vicarious feeling for the ordeal, and the film editor indeed admits that was the reason for the gruesomeness. One fascinating fact is that Socha could have obtained 500 zlotys for each Jew if he turned them in to the Nazis (reminding us, if we care, of the bounties paid to Afghans and Pakistanis for each Arabic-speaking captive who was entrusted to the Americans as a supposed terrorist who might have ended up at Guantánamo). But the Jews paid the same 500 zlotys daily for at least one year. Had Socha, a devout Catholic, played ball with the Nazis, the Jews would have been either sent to the Janowska forced labor camp or the Belzec deathcamp. (Wiesenthal, who began the war at forced labor in Lwów, had been transferred to Chemnitz and later Mauthausen forced labor camps while his fellow Jews were trapped in the sewer.) Agnieszka Holland, the director, previously shocked filmviewers with the Political Film Society-nominated Europa Europa (1990), which portrays another oddity of World War II horrors. Now her In Darkness, has been nominated by the Political Film Society for best film exposé and best film on human rights of 2011. MH