Saturday in Toronto

By Josh Jackson

Today began with a punch in the gut---a screening of Shake Hands With the Devil, a dramatic retelling of the Rwandan genocide from the perspective of Lt. General Roméo Dallaire, the Canadian head of the U.N. mission there. It was like watching Hotel Rwanda all over again, bodies strewn across roads, covering the dirt floor of a church, stuck beneath a wooden bridge. It was another powerful reminder of the capacity for communal evil. The title alludes to the need for Dalliare to deal with the three heads of the Hutu militias who roamed through Kigali killing Tsutsi civilians. Watching Dalliare become undone by the horrors around him and his orders to do nothing to stop it makes me further ashamed of The West’s attitude towards Africa.

Later in the day, I saw Darfur Now, Ted Braun’s look at the situation in Darfur and what six individuals are doing to stop it, from actor Don Cheadle to a female rebel soldier whose baby was killed by the Janjaweed militias who’ve ravaged the province. Seeing the face of genocide again on film in Shaking Hands and then being reminded that horrors of similar magnitude are still happening left me feeling a little helpless and overwhelmed and wondering what I can do to help stop it. It’s the same feeling I had learning about the global slave trade industry. One of the six people featured in Darfur Now is Adam Sterling, a 24-year-old who was inspired to bring peace to Darfur anyway he could. He helped get a bill passed in the California legislature to pressure businesses to divest in activities that would help the Sudanese government. It was a testament to the fact that anyone can make a difference, even when the task seems too unwieldy.

It would have been an even more Africa-centric day had I not gone to the wrong screening room for Iron Ladies of Liberia, a documentary on Liberia’s president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who is leading the war-torn nation out of its own horrendous Civil War. Instead, I watched The Jane Austin Book Club, a surprisingly warm and smart romantic comedy about five women (and one man) who look to Austin’s books as they navigate their own relationship woes. Maria Bello particularly shines as a self-assured, solitary dog breeder who’s more concerned about hooking up her friends than opening herself up. It’ll make a perfect date movie this fall.

I also caught the beautifully crafted 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (screenshot above), which won the Palm d’Or at this year’s Cannes. The film follows two university roommates, Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) and Otilia (Anamaria Marinca), as they seek an illegal abortion for Gabita. It’s a heart-wrenching tale that avoids being didactic while it adeptly portrays dictatorial Romania in the late ‘80s.

After all the turmoil, my day ended with The Visitor, another politically charged film, but a charming one from Thomas McCarthy, who wrote and directed The Station Agent in 2003 (which you should all go rent this week if you haven’t seen it). The Visitor follows Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) a disengaged college professor in Connecticut who encounters a couple boarding in his Manhattan apartment. Tarak (Haaz Sleiman) is Syrian and his girlfriend (Danai Gurira) is Senegalese, and they’re both illegals. The surprising friendship upends Walter’s world when Tarak suddenly faces the prospect of deportation.

I realized that the films I love can be divided into those with characters who charm me and those without, and while I may love two films equally for the effect they have on me---the way they make me confront unexpected events and challenge my way of seeing---I enjoy the films that charm me most. The Visitor is a charming film, like In America, The Station Agent or Chocolat. I wish there were more films like it.