Rwanda: The Day God Went Away

By ROB NELSON
Variety
September 23, 2009

An MK2 Diffusion (in France) release of Les Films du Mogho (France) presentation of an Artemis (Belgium) production, with support of Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), CNC, CCA et les Teledistributeurs Wallons, Canal Plus, Cinecinema, Media, La Fondation GAN, Tax Shelter, ING Invest, Taxshelter.be. (International sales: MK2, Paris.) Produced by Patrick Quinet. Co-producer, Tomas Leyers. Directed, written by Philippe van Leeuw.

With: Ruth Nirere, Afazali Dewaele, Lola Tuyaerts.(French, Kinyrwanda dialogue)

Literally telling a one-in-a-million story, but largely without words, "Rwanda: The Day God Went Away" follows the harrowing struggle for survival of a Tutsi woman during the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Much to his credit, first-time writer-director Philippe van Leeuw has imagined the unimaginable in stark and brutal terms, delivering what amounts to an artful slasher film, with Rwandan pop singer Ruth Nirere in an astonishingly physical turn as a housemaid hiding in the jungle and barely eluding her Hutu attackers. Beautifully lensed, ironically enough, the movie is very tough going but also immediately accessible, and it deserves an audience.

Right from the pic's first scene, Van Leeuw succeeds in vividly personalizing a tragedy that has in earlier films been rendered with varying degrees of abstraction; so, too, he keeps the focus entirely on the black Tutsi experience.

Jacqueline (Nirere) is introduced reluctantly going to hide in the attic of the home she has tended for a white Belgian family, whose members soon flee the mounting chaos of Kigali by car. The camera holds tight to Jacqueline, tears rolling down her face, as she crouches in the attic and hears the terrible sounds of Tutsi villagers being massacred by the Hutu militia. (The violence here is no less powerful for being offscreen.)

After several days, Jacqueline dares to leave the house and head through the bush on foot toward her home, where, upon arrival, she finds her two children dead.

Returning to the bush, where she hides, careful not to make a sound, Jacqueline discovers a Tutsi man (Afazali Dewaele) bleeding profusely from his side, having evidently survived an assault by machete. In one of many wordless sequences, captured in riveting long-take by former d.p. van Leeuw (who shot Bruno Dumont's "Life of Jesus"), Jacqueline deliberates whether to help the man before eventually deciding to treat his wound in a manner that shows her great ingenuity and resolve.

The man's health slowly improves to the point where he and Jacqueline, working together to survive, begin to harvest, hunt and cook. Only after a relative feast do they start to communicate with words, which they choose carefully, as if conserving energy. At one point, Jacqueline very nearly gives up, and then proceeds to behave erratically, revealing to the man and to the audience that the horror has begun to wear her down psychologically.

Nearly a work of pure cinema, grounded in elemental details and heart-wrenching emotion, "The Day God Went Away" takes the courage of its convictions all the way to a devastating finale.

Throughout, the film's technical credits -- including the lush widescreen images of Marc Koninckx and the richly layered sound work of Paul Heymans -- are extraordinary. Costume designer Laurence Marechal works indelibly with Jacqueline's one dress -- light-blue and crisp at first, then increasingly soiled and tattered.

Camera (color, Panavision widescreen), Marc Koninckx; editor, Andree Davanture; music, Annonciata Kamaliza; production designer, Kathy Lebrun; costume designer, Laurence Marechal; sound (Dolby SRD), Paul Heymans; assistant director, Manu Kamanda. Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Discovery), Sept. 11, 2009. (Also in San Sebastian Film Festival -- Kutxa New Directors, competing.) Running time: 98 MIN.

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