Available at Amazon.com
20th Century Fox presents Beyond The Gates. Written by David Wostencroft. 112 minutes. Rated R for strong violence, disturbing images and language.
Directed By:
Michael Caton-Jones
Cast:
John Hurt. Christopher
Hugh Dancy. Joe Connor
The Film:
With the popularity and critical acclaim of Hotel Rwanda any lesser reviewer would base his opinion of this film about a similar subject matter to that one. However, like the plethora of Holocaust films that are out there, there is no reason why the Genocide in Rwanda should not be given equal amount of attention. Besides when this film went into production Hotel Rwanda hadn’t even been made yet.
Beyond The Gates is the true story of a massacre that took place mere days into the 100 day Genocide. In Ecole Technique Officielle (ETO), a European-run school where UN peacekeepers provide protection, Father Christopher (Hurt), a priest who’s been in the country for over 30 years, and Joe (Dancy), a young ideal teacher, witness the beginning of the atrocities. But when the UN troopers are forced to withdraw, Christopher and Joe must decide what course of action they are going to take.
When you have a film that is based on historical fact, and you know it ends with 2500 hundred people being brutally murdered, you no you’re not in for a happy film. But Beyond The Gates manages to take a dire dismal situation and show it in a light were perhaps there is a glimmer of hope. The events of the film were only ten years old at the time of filming and was shot on location with many people who survived the event. The most heart wrenching moment of the film comes during the credits when a series of photographs shows the cast and crew and gives a little blurb about how they survived and how many family members they lost. If nothing in the film brings you to tears, this surely will.
This film takes a very interesting approach to the situation. If confines itself to the ETO as hundreds of people flock there to avoid slaughter. As the tension outside the gates grows so does the claustrophobia inside. The film moves at a leisurely pace never in a hurry to get where it needs to go and this is a good thing. When you know what kind of ending your coming to there is no rush to get there.
The genocide of Rwanda is something that must not be ignored. 800,000 lives lost over a period of 100 days. That’s 8,000 people a day and is something beyond most people’s grasp. To read about it is one thing. But to see it, if only on screen, puts faces and emotions to those numbers and makes this incompressible horror a grim reality.
And when you consider that some of the directors other films include Doc Hollywood and Basic Instinct 2, it makes the film seem all that more impressive. It’s good that he did a project out of love and passion and not just to pad his pocket book.
The DVD:
This film is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. English and French and Spanish Subtitles.
Extras:
Commentary with director Michael Caton-Jones and commentary with producer David Belton and screenwriter David Wostencroft: You get two commentaries here. One with the director and one with the producer and screenwriter. Both are rather interesting and offer many interesting insights intot he film, however not enough to warrant sitting through the film two more times. They really should have just all sat in together to do one really good commentary.
The Making of Beyond The Gates: This is a fantastic 30 minute making of that talks about how they went back to the original locations where the story happened and used the people who lived there. It goes into detail about how they were very careful to respect the memory of those who’d died and keep as many of the locals away during really intense and upsetting scenes. The screenwriter was a reporter there during the time so who better to tell the story.
Ways To Get Involved: This is a short little PSA promoting The International Rescue Committee’s Efforts with Wear-Torn Communities and Uprooted People. It shows a bit about what they do then gives the website and tells you to go there and help out.
Trailer
The Inside Pulse
This is a solid, well made film that shows the horrors of some of what happened with out being to in your face about it. Not only can this film be enjoyed but much can be learned from it as well. Do yourself a favor and see this film. If you decide to look the film up on imdb and have trouble finding it, look for Shooting Dogs, which was the original title of the film.
