Sometimes in April

We Recently watched a film in school called "Sometimes in April" during our Religion classes. Sometimes in April is filmed by Raoul Peck and tells the story of the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The cast includes Idris Elba, Oris Erhuero, Carole Karemera, and Debra Winger.




In Rwanda, there are two main ethnic groups that divide the country. The are the Hutus and the Tutsis.

Hutus are a mostly Roman Catholic and Protestant there are about 11 million of them and they populate Rwanda, Burundi, and portions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Hutu arrived in the region before the Tutsis.

Tutsis are a mostly Roman Catholic, there are about 2.5 million of them. The Tutsi monarchy existed from the 15th century, when the Tutsis came to the region from Ethiopia, until it was abolished by colonizers.

The film "sometimes in April" tells the story of two brothers, Honoré and Augustin.
Honoré worked for a Rwandan radio station and Augustin was a captain in the Rwandan army.



Augustin was married to a Tutsi woman, Jeanne, and had three children with her, Anne-Marie, Yves-André, and Marcus. They all bear witness to the killing of almost 800,000 people in 100 days while becoming divided by politics and losing some of their own family.

The film depicts the attitudes and circumstances leading up to the outbreak of brutal violence, the intertwining stories of people struggling to survive the genocide, and the affect it has on people as they try to find justice and reconciliation.