reviewed by Charity Bishop
      

I keep a mental list of movies that have changed something in me forever. Most of them I have not been able to watch more than once, because there is so much sorrow in my soul by the conclusion that I cannot bear a repeat performance. Beyond the Gates is just such a film, depicting the horrible realities behind the 1994 genocide (although the press and the UN loathed to admit it) in Rwanda.

Life is fairly commonplace at the African school where Joe Conner (Hugh Dancy) teaches. His days are full of lively debates with his students, attempting to explain how communion can be the Body of Christ without actually being Christ's flesh, and encouraging the fastest runner in the school to beat her own track records. His mentor and dearest friend is Father Christopher (John Hurt), who often travels beyond the gates of the complex, guarded by soldiers from the United Nations, to visit his ministries throughout Rwanda. But in the course of a single evening, right in the midst of watching a football game on the crackling black and white television, their lives change forever. The president of Rwanda's plane is shot from the skies.

Within hours, thousands of refugees are begging them for assistance. What unfolds over the next two hours is a horrific depiction of the brutality of the 100-day massacre of the nation. One of the tribes has turned against the other, and the ultimate ruthlessness of these barbaric attacks is beyond comprehension. This movie will get under your skin and effect forever how you look at Rwanda. Never again will you watch a news report on the violence in modern-day Sudan with quite the same peace of mind. I have watched only a handful of movies that make you feel as though you are actually there and in peril, but this is one of them. There are two versions of this film out there. One of them is the original film that premiered at the Film Festival, and the language is a bit more raw. The other has dubbed over the offensive language and is distributed by Fox as part of their Faith series. As far as I know, the content apart from profanity remains the same.

The original has eleven f-words in it (in the edited version, these have been replaced with alternatives, including "frigging") and one harsh abuse of Jesus' name. There is not a lot of actual violence but the aftermath and implications are profoundly disturbing. A woman describes seeing men bash a baby's head against a tree until it has died. Corpses covered in blood are seen throughout the second half of the film. Father Christopher discovers that his nuns have been raped and murdered. A literal river of blood trickles down a wall and into the street. Even more disturbing are two instances when we see people being hacked to death. The person always falls out of camera range behind bushes but we know what is happening, and feel the shock along with Joe's character as he is forced to watch. Another scene has parents begging the UN soldiers to shoot everyone in the base before they leave, to spare them from an even more violent and painful demise. If not the adults, then at least kill the children, they beg. A man is shot multiple times in the chest attempting to protect Rwandan children from being discovered and killed.

There are numerous conversations about salvation and the presence of God in the midst of such devastation. Joe ultimately decides to flee with the departing soldiers, but Father Christopher remains behind because God has given him the strength to see it through. Joe questions whether or not God is still around, that He would allow this to happen. The acting is good, even excellent, but is almost lost in the powerful storytelling that carries you through the lives and deaths of individuals you grow to respect and care about. I have not cried this hard through a film in a long time. Most of the crew working behind the scenes are actual survivors from the crisis, and so the story is based on actual events even though various characters, such as Father Christopher, are a combination of people who were there. This lends almost a personal twist to the tragedy that manages to come through every frame.

It's not a movie you can watch more than once, but in some respects I think that everyone should see it. Just make certain that you are emotionally capable of handling it first, since out of all the films I have watched on similar topics (including The Pianist, and Schindler's List), this one struck the hardest.