SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL ***
(three stars)
PETER Raymond’s com pelling documentary “Shake Hands With the Devil,” subtitled “The Journey of Romeo Dallaire,” is based on the memoirs of the conscience-stricken Canadian who was the basis for Nick Nolte’s character in “Hotel Rwanda.”
Dallaire was a general heading the U.N. peacekeeping detail in Rwanda in 1994 when he was charged with the impossible mission of preventing the slaughter of nearly a million people without using military force.
As most of the West turned a blind eye to the mass genocide, Dallaire risked his life to rescue as many of the mostly Tutsi victims as he could from the ruling Hutus who were taught by Rwanda’s former Belgian colonists that the Tutsis were inferior.
Dallaire returned home suffering from depression, alcoholism and traumatic stress; the filmmakers follow this compassionate and articulate man as returns to Rwanda a decade later to revisit his demons.
Running time: 91 minutes. Not rated (disturbing images). At Film Forum, west of Sixth Avenue.