We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families is a difficult yet completely engrossing read. Philip Gourevitch does a great job of giving the reader a sense of an entirely senseless time period. The information he relates is beyond grim but his writing style makes it hard to put the book down. While maintaining a, for the most part, objective stance Gourevitch give the reader a widely encompassing look at the Rwandan genocide. He includes a broad spectrum of events and atrocities moving from historical background to the stories of specific individuals with ease.
It is this broad spectrum and large view which are missing in Hotel Rwanda. In true Hollywood film making style, Hotel Rwanda clearly separated the good buys from the bad. Good versus evil is sharply demarcated, with the participants of each camp clearly labeled. What Gourevitch’s book makes so abundantly clear is the widespread mania, which spread throughout Rwanda. In the film either the militia or the Hutu army carries out atrocities and massacres, in Gourevitch’s telling neighbors turn against neighbors and friends turn against friends. Few were immune from the hatred, from slaying an erstwhile companion, coworker or friend. Those images are more terrifying than a truck of angry militia attacking a UN convoy.
Gourevtich also places the genocide within a historical context. While the film uses the president’s assassination as the impetus for chaos, the book makes it clear that the seeds of hatred had long been sown and that the call to massacre Hutus was not unexpected. I was glad I read the book before viewing the movie as it helped make sense of its many snippets of historical information. I am not sure, however, if I can say that I was ‘glad’ to have read the book. It opened a door into a world that is in many ways beyond my comprehension. Its images continue to haunt me. I think of Rwanda as I chat with my neighbors, as I look at the diverse ethnicities in the checkout line, as I simply drive down the street. Gourevitch’s work has shaken my world view.
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2 comments:
Nice summary.
Having read the book and watched the movie, I still can't clearly see what really triggered the events that both cover. I understand the history -- but I also appreciate that things weren't really that bad in Rwanda, and some of the pressures that lead to blowups in other societies weren't really there, in Rwanda.
I almost think it was something like the times that lead up to WWI, when people were just bored...and lacking something in their lives.
Excellent review. "Few were immune from the hatred, from slaying an erstwhile companion, coworker or friend." How can humans be so unhumane to their fellow-kind or to any other human-kind?
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