Munyurangabo
This movie is set in Rwanda after the genocide. It starts with two young boys going on a journey but to where the viewer does not know. A boy named Ngabo (short for Munyurangabo) takes a machete from the market which creates a sense violence in the movie. The second boy, Sangwa, travels with Ngabo on his journey. We learn later in the movie that they are going to kill the man who killed Ngabo’s father during the genocide. Along the travel they stay with Sangwa’s family whom he left three years ago. There he decides that he doesn’t want to go kill but remain with his family. The audience also finds out that Ngabo is a Tutsi while Sangwa is a Hutu.
The Rwandan genocide was bands of Hutu’s gathered together despite religion (religion was a common cause of war, especially Muslims vs. Christians) that killed hundreds of thousands of Tutsis or anyone that got in their way. The Hutu saw the Tutsis as more than just a minority but as vermin that needed to be exterminated. They did just that.
Sangwa’s father was not happy with the fact that Ngabo was a Tutsi but yet hated the idea that his boy was going out to kill and disowns his son. It may not be the fact that Sangwa is going to kill but going to kill a Hutu. There are many open-ended points in the movie where the viewer is confused about the facts. We are not sure whether his father was a Hutu soldier in the genocide but you do know that he has gotten better since Sangwa had last seen him — stopped drinking and smoking; however, he is ill.
AIDS is a common aftereffect of the genocide. Many of the soldiers and women whom they raped were diagnosed with the disease. During the genocide, women would be kept for sex and raped all night by lines of men. This was not a sexual act but a violent one where the Hutu men wanted to show their power over the Tutsi women.
A friend of Sangwa’s in his home village becomes ill and this reflects the AIDS victim that at the end of the movie — Ngabo’s father’s killer whom is weak, near death, and lying on the floor. The weirdest part about Ngabo’s reaction to his father’s killer is when the Hutu asks for water Ngabo takes pity on the man and goes out and fetches it for him. The most confusing part for me is the fact the Sangwa appears at the pond were Ngabo is collecting water; however, Sangwa did not follow Ngabo, he was told not to come. I am still confused as to what this could mean. Maybe that Ngabo has become like Sangwa and forgiven his father (or father’s killer) for killing innocent people. I think that why Ngabo changes his mind is the poem about the liberation of Rwanda that a local recites for him upon entering the killer’s town. The poem talks about the pain and suffering that happened but a plan for peace in Rwanda and all its people. The inspired that by the fact that this film did not tell the story of the genocide but rather about the people who are living with the horrible effects. Those who survived live with hatred but few know that there is still hope for Rwanda. At first I was frustrated with the openness of the movie but now I think without it the viewer would not think about what the movie means or how it applies to them.
The movie is shown from an outside third person viewpoint. The viewer does not know what is going on but will occasionally ease-drop in on only Sangwa and Ngabo’s conversation. This leaves mystery in the plotline. Visually we see only what the two boys see but not through their eyes rather as if someone was watching what they did. The parents are never seen unless the boys are interacting with them, this shows the importance of the boys and what the movie is about.
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