'Shooting Dogs'

A depressing tale told in the midst of the Rwandan genocide, 'Shooting Dogs' shines a light on the impotence of the United Nations in a benighted country descending into hell. It's told simply, without digression or ornamentation, save for the brief TV footage showing a UN official doing her best to avoid using the 'G' word. John Hurt stars as the Catholic priest sheltering fleeing Tutsis, while Hugh Dancy plays the callow English youth teaching at his school. The brutal violence is shocking in a way that does not require excessive gore, and although more could probably have been made of the script, it's not a film that will leave your thoughts easily.

Upon realising that he is a dead man, there's a moving moment in which Hurt's character bids farewell to his protégé with the words: 'Find fulfillment in everything.' As Marie, one of the survivors of the genocide reminds us, 'This time we have been given, we must use it well.'

(Though no thesp myself, this blogger once shared a stage with Hugh Dancy, though back at school we knew him as 'Jack').