Talk:Sometimes in April

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Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 09:47, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Comments
I just finished watching Sometimes in April on HBO. The movie is haunting and leaves one with a sense of the injustice of the war in Rwanda. It makes a comparison between what is happening in the United States during the time and what is going on in Rwanda. They show the bureacrats of the state department arguing for the US to remain out of the war. It is interesting to me that we are fighting a country, Iraq, who's leader was accused of genocide. We claim that we want to make the world safe for democracy. We want to export freedom and our American way. It is truly sad to know that genocide still occurs and we do little or nothing to stop it.

I heard President Paul Kagami of Rwanda speak last spring. He spoke about the healing process in Rwanda. Currently Tutsis and Hutus live together. This movie showed the community courts where people have a chance to tell their stories and point out their murderers. The movie does not explain what is happening. I heard about it from President Kagami.

Seeing the movie leaves me with many questions. Where do the victims stop and the murderers begin? In an environment of "kill or be killed," does anyone make rational or just decisions? Are we all capable of being pushed to the edge as these people were? What led them to the path of genocide? How long with the recovery process take? What can we do to help them now to recover?

President Kagami said that is was the result of French colonialism. The French set the Tutsi people above the Hutu. This led to hatred and discrimination from the Hutu. The eventual erosion of the society when the French left Rwanda precipitated the genocide.

Can we as Americans believe that we must change the world and yet refuse to help those most desperate?

Julia

Furthermore, it also was the belgians because they conquered Rwandda and caused the bloodshed between tutsi and hutu by practicing divide and conquer. On the other hand the French also armed the Hutu genocidal government and they were thus responsible for the killings of up to a million people in 100 days.
 * Again: Rwanda is not a french colony but a "belgium colony!!" So, you must write:<> Why do americans always rewrite History ? Can you just open a History book about Rwanda, and stop spread bullshit like this. Thanks. Fol2choco 6 July 2009

True Story?
I don't know where this "based on the true story" and "biographical" stuff is coming from, but the film is not either of these things to the best of my knowledge, so I've removed these statements. I remember the director saying (on a commentary or interview) that the characters of Honoré and Augustin were based on real people, but that they are more of an amalgam of several people than a direct biography. The point was not that this particular story was true, but more that it was representative of the stories of many Rwandans.

If there is evidence to the contrary, please share it. -Fadookie Talk 04:01, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Edits to Lead and Expanded Plot
Lead

One of eight films that highlight the Rwandan Genocide in 1994.

Plot
Augustin describes this feeling that covers the city during the rainy season "Sometimes in April". During this time he reflects upon the massive genocide that occurred in April during 1994.

In the present: The story starts off in April 2004, Augustin is a school teacher and plays a film on the documentary of the Rwandan genocide to his students. Augustin lives with Martine his wife who is pregnant with a boy. Augustin brother Honore is undergoing trial for his actions in the genocide and asks his brother to come visit him. He wants to tell his brother about the death of his wife and children during the genocide. Augustin struggles throughout the movie with whether he should see his brother and hear how his family died.

Past: Augustin is a captain in the Rwandan Army. Augustin who lives with his wife Jeanne, with whom they have a daughter, Anne-Marie, and two sons, Yves-Andre and Marcus. Honore is a radio personality who speaks about the abuse the Hutu had to endure in the past and now that the Hutu have the power they will never forget the terrible treatment they endured at the hands of the Tutsi. He also expresses his disgust towards the Tutsi who once ruled over the Hutu. Despite his brother being married to a Tutsi woman and having half Tutsi children, he does not support his brother's marriage.

Augustin is a captain in the military and receives an execution list of the names. On this list are names of Tutsi and Hutu people that the Hutu Military state as traitors to the country. Agustin and Xavier both military men married to Tutsi women began to realize the severity of the matter and become cautious. The Hutu Military disagreed with the United Nation power-sharing agreement and disagree with their President signing off on such an agreement. The Rwandan President's plane is shot down later that night and fear cover's the city from the assassination of the president. The Hutu Military begins their executions that very night the plane is shot down.

Augustin calls Honore as he is very influential in the community and believes he can lead his family safely away. Honore struggles but then agrees and he drives Jeanne and the children through the barriers using his influence, only to be stopped by a new barrier. His tries to persuade the military officials to let them through but cannot due to the family being Tutsi. Meanwhile, Augustin and Xavier attempt to flee the city to check on Augustin's daughter despite their names appearing on a list of people to be executed. At one of the barriers, the car is stopped and Augustin's life is spared but the life of Xavier is taken. Due to his name being said as a traitor on the radio.

Martine is a teacher at a Catholic school where the military army breaks down the doors and begin to separate the girls into two groups, Tutsi and Hutu. Martine's group of girls ban not to let them separate each other. The girls and Martine stand up to the men and tell them that they will not separate and that the men should leave. Martine is hit and knocked down and the students are shot down one by one. Later in the night Martine wakes up and crawls out of the dead bodies of her students who were shot down by the military. Two of her students survive and three of them find shelter in a nearby hut but then Annmarie, who is Agustin daughter dies from her wounds. Martine takes the other girl into the fields for shelter until they are found by the Rwandan Patriotic Front.

In the present: Augustin visits the prison where his brother is housed and other officials on trial for the genocide. He is furious that the killers of thousands are able to live in luxury with medicine and meals while there are others in the country that fight every day to survive. Unable to look at his brother he leaves before the visit. Later, through his hotel wall, he befriends a woman who invites him to the trial where she is an anonymous witness. He attends the trial and hears of the constant rape that the witness endured by military soldiers.

In the Past: Rwandan Patriotic Front wins the war, and Hutu Military begins to flee. Augustin is 1 of the refugees that is saved. He goes to the Catholic school in search of his daughter Annemarie. He meets Martine who is cleaning up the dead bodies of her students. Augustin asks about his daughter and Martine's silence answers his question and he cries.

In the present: Augustin finally meets with his brother Honore. Honore shares that he was on the run for three years and thought he would never see his brother again and that he has missed him. Honore shares with his brother the events of the day his family were killed. He explains that he tried to negotiate with a military official but the lieutenant was told to kill all the Tutsi. The children were pulled out of the car and the Jeanne is knocked down trying to protect them. The brother ends up saving the Jeanne who was forgotten about during the commotion. He pushed her into a ditch with other dead bodies until nightfall. He was now listed as a traitor and lost his privilege for safety. He left the unconscious Jeanne at a church for safety. Honore later finds out Jeanne was being rapped with other women at the church after the military raided the sanctuary. After she was raped for the last time she sacrificed her life by setting off a bomb killing military men who were planning to kill them all that night.

Augustin reflects on the news from his brother. He leaves the prison and goes back to his wife, to begin his family with his new family. Phd Reese (talk) 18:42, 18 April 2018 (UTC) Phd Reese (talk) 19:01, 18 April 2018 (UTC)