My Neighbor, My Killer (Sunday, July 12, 2009) (90)

This is a documentary about the Gacaca genocide trials in Rwanda that ran from 2001 until 2008. Somewhat similar to the Truth and Reconciliation commissions in South Africa after Apartheid, these trials had communities confront the men who murdered their family members in the brutal Hutu genocide of the Tutsies and were overseen by community-member tribunals. The film follows the trial in one small village over the course of about 8 years.

At first we see a woman whose children and husband were butchered with machettes in the middle of the night. She knows the man who did it, as he had lived in the village before the incident. That man is released from government custody around 2001, as part of the first step in the Gacaca process. He is interviewed and he denies killing the family.

Over the course of several years, we see the trial proceed and the man's story changes. At one point he says that he doesnt' know who killed whom, but he knows he didn't kill people in the village; later he shows where the people were killed; later he does admit to killing the people.

The Gacaca process is clearly an an amazing and cathartic one. Through the trial, the people of the village are able to tell their experiences and share their pain. In the end, the purpetrators of the crimes get off with what we in the West would consider an incredibly light punnishment - and then they are sent back to live in the village again. It's really amazing.

I think there is some confusion through the film about time frame and some details of the events we are examining. I would have liked a bit more explaination from the director (possibly through the better use of titles), as I felt I missed some important points at times. I think the Gacaca process is more amazing than the movie itself, which in the end is much closer to a good 60 Minutes or Frontline report.

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