Down Terrace
25 years have passed since the devastating genocide in Rwanda, which killed around a million people. The outer traces of this civil war are barely visible - but what about people inside? The genocide…
Down Terrace
25 years have passed since the devastating genocide in Rwanda, which killed around a million people. The outer traces of this civil war are barely visible - but what about people inside? The genocide isn't concluded in the minds and hearts of Rwandans. Everyday life in the small African nation is still shaped by the aftermath of the genocide and for many Rwandans, every new day is still a challenge. Rwanda, 1994. Around seven million people were living in the African country - the "land of a thousand hills". 70 percent of them are Catholics. 85 percent belong to the Hutu tribe, the others belong almost entirely to the Tutsi tribe. The conflict between Hutu and Tutsi has resulted in bloody clashes several times in history. But the sad climax took place in 1994: According to estimates, around one million people - most of them Tutsis - were brutally murdered within 100 days. The genocide divided the people into two camps: families who were attacked and murdered by their own neighbors, people who narrowly escaped execution, murderers who are still free despite their crimes - or in short: victims and perpetrators. This concept of victim and perpetrator determines the entire Rwandan society. The survivors must learn to live with their grief, anger, and loneliness after losing family and friends. As if that wasn't difficult enough, they often face the challenge that their own neighbors have become murderers. Vestine's children were killed during the genocide by a man who lived a few blocks away. Vestine and the murderer of her children both agree will never forget what happend. Sometimes revenge comes up in her feelings, but the woman does not wish the perpetrator to die. No, she says, he should go on living. Even if that means having to live with the fact that the murderer of her children lives in the neighborhood again. There are labor camps across the country where thousands of people live and do community service - those are the killers who regret their actions and ask for forgiveness. A government measure - those who show remorse receive a substantial reduction in sentences and are released after a few years in prison and after performing social work. In a labor camp in Mwendo, men, women, even mothers with small children work in a quarry - the hard work leaves physical and mental traces, but it also leaves time to think about what you have done. The remorse, but also the urge to finally leave the past behind is great. But it is not just the government that is actively committed to reconciliation within the population. The Church also wants the people to reunite and look towards the future. Reconciliation is firmly anchored in the Christian system of values and plays a major role in continuing to live after the genocide nowadays. But charity, which the Church has always preached, was not lived during the genocide. There are divided opinions as to whether this should be interpreted as a failure of the church. A Rwandan and a Belgian priest, for their part, find very clear words for the misconduct of the church during the genocide. A church which exists but does not shout "Stop" is not good, said the Rwandan pastor, Father Ubald Rugirangoga. Others, such as the controversial Bishop Misago, see the Church as a victim of what is happening and reject any responsibility.
Down Terrace
Comedy,Crime,Drama
Film Details
25 years have passed since the devastating genocide in Rwanda, which killed around a million people. The outer traces of this civil war are barely visible - but what about people inside? The genocide isn't concluded in the minds and hearts of Rwandans. Everyday life in the small African nation is still shaped by the aftermath of the genocide and for many Rwandans, every new day is still a challenge.
Rwanda, 1994. Around seven million people were living in the African country - the "land of a thousand hills". 70 percent of them are Catholics.
85 percent belong to the Hutu tribe, the others belong almost entirely to the Tutsi tribe. The conflict between Hutu and Tutsi has resulted in bloody clashes several times in history. But the sad climax took place in 1994: According to estimates, around one million people - most of them Tutsis - were brutally murdered within 100 days.
The genocide divided the people into two camps: families who were attacked and murdered by their own neighbors, people who narrowly escaped execution, murderers who are still free despite their crimes - or in short: victims and perpetrators. This concept of victim and perpetrator determines the entire Rwandan society. The survivors must learn to live with their grief, anger, and loneliness after losing family and friends.
As if that wasn't difficult enough, they often face the challenge that their own neighbors have become murderers. Vestine's children were killed during the genocide by a man who lived a few blocks away. Vestine and the murderer of her children both agree will never forget what happend.
Sometimes revenge comes up in her feelings, but the woman does not wish the perpetrator to die. No, she says, he should go on living. Even if that means having to live with the fact that the murderer of her children lives in the neighborhood again.
There are labor camps across the country where thousands of people live and do community service - those are the killers who regret their actions and ask for forgiveness. A government measure - those who show remorse receive a substantial reduction in sentences and are released after a few years in prison and after performing social work. In a labor camp in Mwendo, men, women, even mothers with small children work in a quarry - the hard work leaves physical and mental traces, but it also leaves time to think about what you have done.
The remorse, but also the urge to finally leave the past behind is great. But it is not just the government that is actively committed to reconciliation within the population. The Church also wants the people to reunite and look towards the future.
Reconciliation is firmly anchored in the Christian system of values and plays a major role in continuing to live after the genocide nowadays. But charity, which the Church has always preached, was not lived during the genocide. There are divided opinions as to whether this should be interpreted as a failure of the church.
A Rwandan and a Belgian priest, for their part, find very clear words for the misconduct of the church during the genocide. A church which exists but does not shout "Stop" is not good, said the Rwandan pastor, Father Ubald Rugirangoga. Others, such as the controversial Bishop Misago, see the Church as a victim of what is happening and reject any responsibility..