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The explanation of a genocide in 90 minutes?

The genocide in Rwanda in spring 1994 is one of the most serious crimes in human history.
Within only six weeks, almost one million people were murdered, no, slaughtered.
The genocide was the culmination of a hundred years of conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi. Put simply, the Tutsi aristocracy traditionally ruled and let the Hutu work for them. But it was only later that the two large population strata of Rwanda were classified as ethnically different population groups.
In 1897, Rwanda was colonized, and by Germany of all countries. From 1916 to 1962 Belgium took control.
Rwanda then became independent, well, more or less independent. Because the influence of the former colonial masters continued in a devastating way. In summary, the genocide of the Tutsis and moderate Hutu was mainly due to the preference of the already privileged Tutsis by the European colonial rulers. But other African countries, interest groups and former colonial powers were also involved in the genocide.




In "Notre-Dame Du Nil" by this year's Generation 14plus, author and director Atiq Rahimi travels to Rwanda in 1973 and takes on a lot with his film based on a novel.






At the beginning, the film cautiously focuses on everyday life in a Rwandan elite boarding school for girls.
And that would have been enough to describe or even try to partially explain the tensions between Hutu and Tutsi. But the film wants more and starts with thrilling but far too complex storylines that aren´t finished. And this with a total length of just 93 minutes.

Relatively soon the pacing increases rapidly. While I was still thinking about what the visually beautiful and sometimes even poetic approaches of some scenes meant, the next disaster already happened.
In the film, the distinction between Hutu and Tutsi naturally plays a central role, but I was soon unable to tell them apart.
Of course such a thing can also be a dramaturgical strategy, but here it felt more like the consequence of an unfinished script.

I am critical of the current increase in the average length of feature films, but some material simply can't be told conclusively in 90 minutes.
With such a complex and delicate subject, a reduction in content would have been sensible.
So in the end, "Notre-Dame Du Nil" left me with more questions than answers.

The screenings of "Notre-Dame Du Nil" at the Berlinale:
Saturday, 22.02. - 3:30 p.m. at Zoopalast 1
Monday, February 24th - 5:00 p.m. at Cubix 8
Wednesday, 26.02. - 5:30 p.m. at the Urania
Thursday, 27.02. - 3:30 p.m. at the Fimtheater am Friedrichshain

image source: © Sophie Davin/Les Films Du Tambour, Chapter 2

26th of February 2020, Vincent Edusei

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