Tiyler Sims
English 102
Fischer: 8:00 a.m.
Sometimes in April Response

“Thousands Died, Many Knew, Millions did Nothing”

Raul Peck’s Sometimes in April, unlike the other films, focused on the guilt of the world as the genocide unraveled as well as the pain felt by the families that tried to survive. The movie depicts the struggle of a man’s family, personally, and their fight to get out of the country. We basically see how they are directly affected by the mass murder. The idea of the main character, Augustin, allows for the audience to feel the pain most families felt. As opposed to Hotel Rwanda and Paul’s happy/hopeful ending, Augustin’s pain remains even years after the war between Hutu and Tutsi.
The director used Augustin as a tool to show the audience what resources lacked in the country to protect the thousands of people that were slaughtered. The film also portrays the real horror that must have been felt by the thousands hiding in ditches and swamps all across the country. It was eye-opening to have the movie take place in two different locations: Rwanda and America. We see the fear and the struggle in Rwanda, while witnessing the apathy and nonchalance of America to assist in preventing, if not ending the slaughter(s). While being much more explicit and striking than Hotel Rwanda, the audience is moved to be biased against America’s lack of concern toward the incident.
According to University for Peace, Augustin’s agreement to witness his brother’s trial for ultimately instigating the vicious crimes sheds to light that the entire trial and court proceedings of the war criminals may very have been just “a show to ease the consciences of the international community” (Waring). It becomes apparent that the writers and producers of the film wanted to show how persuasive the radio stations that spat rants about “Hutu cockroaches” were. For the