Shooting Dogs, released in the United States as Beyond the Gates, is a 2005 film directed by Michael Caton-Jones and starring John Hurt, Hugh Dancy and Clare-Hope Ashitey. It is based on the experiences of BBC news producer David Belton, who worked in Rwanda during the Rwandan genocide. Belton is the film's co-writer and one of its producers.
The setting of the film is the École Technique Officielle (ETO) in Kigali, Rwanda, in 1994, during the Rwandan genocide. Hurt plays a Catholic priest (loosely based on Vjekoslav Ćurić) and Dancy an English teacher, both Europeans, who are caught up in the events of the genocide.
Unlike Hotel Rwanda, which was filmed in South Africa using South African actors, the film was shot in the original location of the scenes it portrays. Also, many of the massacre survivors were employed as part of the production crew and in minor acting roles.
The film's title refers to the actions of UN soldiers in shooting at the stray dogs that scavenged the bodies of the dead. Since the UN soldiers were not allowed to shoot at the Hutu extremists who had caused the deaths in the first place, the shooting of dogs is symbolic of the madness of the situation that the film attempts to capture.
Contents
Plot
Joe Connor is a teacher at the École Technique Officielle outside Kigali, run by Father Christopher. The school is also home to a company of Belgian soldiers under the command of Captain Delon, as part of the UN peacekeeping mandate. Joe is close to a girl, Marie, who, Christopher believes, has a crush on him. In early April 1994, they observe a number of events that cause Christopher some concern, including lists being made of Tutsi families, reports of Hutu mobs attacking Tutsis elsewhere in the country, and a suspicious interest shown by Christopher's government contact in the number of UN troops at the school.
On the night of 6 April 1994, distant explosions and gunshots are heard, and Delon hears that the President's plane has been shot down. He mobilises his men to guard the school perimeter, turning it into a military base. Refugees arrive at the gates, and Christopher, over Delon's objections, insists that they are let in. The next morning, Joe drives to Marie's house to fetch her, but the house is deserted save for a dog. He returns to the school to find that she has arrived through the rear entrance, as the front entrance is now guarded by a Hutu mob. The refugees organise themselves under the leadership of Roland, Marie's father. A number of European refugees also arrive, and, to Christopher's frustration, Delon arranges for them to be given better quarters. Christopher continues with church services as usual, while Joe attempts to help the refugees.
As a mob surrounds the school, Joe thinks it would help the refugees if their plight is televised and requests Delon's assistance to fetch BBC journalist Rachel and bring her to the compound. Delon is initially cooperative, but abruptly changes his mind and refuses when he hears that the Belgian soldiers guarding Prime Minister Uwilingiyimana have been massacred. Joe decides to leave anyway and get his friend François, who is a Hutu, to escort him instead, but François is not at home. Joe finds Rachel and her cameraman and persuades them to come to the school by telling them there are Europeans there. As they are returning to the school they are stopped at a roadblock and dragged from their vehicle at gunpoint. While Rachel tries to negotiate their way out, Joe is distraught to see a Tutsi man dragged off and hacked to death with machetes. He is further horrified to see that François is with the mob, holding a bloody machete. François arranges for Joe and the BBC team to be let through. The journalists seem much more dispassionate about the events than Joe, which he later discusses with Rachel, who is a veteran reporter with experience of similar events in Bosnia.
Cast (credited)
John Hurt as Father Christopher
Hugh Dancy as Joe Connor
Dominique Horwitz as Capitaine Charles Delon
Louis Mahoney as Sibomana
Nicola Walker as Rachel
Steve Toussaint as Roland
David Gyasi as François
Susan Nalwoga as Edda
Victor Power as Julius
Jack Pierce as Mark
Musa Kasonka Jr. as Boniface
Kizito Ssentamu Kayiira as Pierre
Clare-Hope Ashitey as Marie
Crew
Director – Michael Caton-Jones
Writers – David Wolstencroft (screenplay), Richard Alwyn (story), David Belton (story)
Original Music – Dario Marianelli
Cinematography – Ivan Strasburg
Editing – Christian Lonk
Casting – Anja Dihrberg, Karen Lindsay-Stewart
Production Design – Bertram Strauß
Art Direction – Astrid Sieben
Set Decoration – Dagmar Wessel
Costume Design – Dinah Collin
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 84% based on 63 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Complex, human characters and on-location shooting give Beyond the Gates palpable tension and urgency." In The Guardian critic Rob Mackey wrote: "If you didn't know the story, you might expect the film to develop into a nice little culture-clash comedy… Shooting Dogs boasts a real location: the school in Kigali where a nightmare played itself out." In The New Statesman Victoria Segal wrote: "Shooting Dogs was shot in Kigali and the geography plays a significant role in generating stark fear: the oddly deserted streets, the bodies in the undergrowth, the humidity and dust. It is full of prickling moments of evil…"
Awards
1 win Heartland Film Festival 2006
Grand Prize for Dramatic Feature