sometimes in april on pbs

africa has a deep scar on its heart from the effects of colonialism, ethnic hatred, and competition for resources. the only way to heal that scar is to confront the pain it causes and somehow try to move past it.

that is the metaphor roiling around in my head after watching “sometimes in april” on pbs last night. thankfully, raoul peck’s movie was not a gorefest depicting the slaughter, but more how individuals are trying to cope with and transcend the pain of having lived through those 90 days in 1994.

geographically, rwanda is in the heart of africa. that metaphor scales from the individual to the whole continent. i am not sure if that was the message behind the film, but it resonates very strongly with me for that reason.

p.s.: peck has a unique ability to visually represent modern day africa on the screen … with the beat up renaults and peugeots, the scattered clothing on the streets, the sets, etc. even though “sometimes …” had that “made for tv” feel in the strength of its story (characters not very well developed), visually the film was top notch.

p.p.s.: i was also struck by the pan-african nature of the cast, drawn as it was from rwanda, south africa, nigeria and the uk. not sure how to react to this, although a part of me feels that this is an african story, it should be told the most effective way possible, by africans regardless of their origins.