Shooting Dogs is by far one of the most powerful, emotive and poignant films of 2006.

Following the true story of the mass genocide of over 800,000 Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994, the film is a stark reminder of how callous humans can be to one another.

Director, Michael Caton-Jones perfectly captures the essence of the screenplay (David Wolstencroft). He evokes a mixture of empathy, sadness and anger at the plight of these abandoned Rwandans.

Exceptionally powerful performances from John Hurt as Father Christopher and Hugh Dancy as Joe provide the only element of humanity in an otherwise dark and graphic depiction of the events of 1994.

It disgusts me that I’m part of a society that condones the slaughter of fellow human beings; the fact that the ‘UN,’ our ‘peacekeepers’, our representatives stood by and watched these horrors occur and then at the crucial moment deserted the defenceless people says a lot about the state of our world. We aided those murders. We are as guilty as the Hutus. The UN is a joke, as is our Government, as is every Government that watched the events unfold from the comfort of their Middle Upper Class Sofas.

I am as guilty as you. I am so ignorant, that this film was my introduction to the politics in Rwanda. I am ashamed of this. But now I am aware of it and will research further, thanks to the medium of film. And it has left me incensed at our behaviour. And by ‘our’ I mean the civilised world.

If this is the intended effect of Shooting Dogs, then I applaud the director. He has created an unimaginable reality, with the help and advice of crew members who lost family and in some cases, narrowly escaped death themselves. It is handled so sensitively, I guarantee you will bawl your eyes out.

Feedback please!

I really loved the movie.