Munyurangabo

An excellent film that deserves a much wider audience, this is easily the best of several recent films on the Rwandan conflict and its aftermath in the last 15 years. Chung's understated style, the easy way of the non-professional actors in front of the camera, the naturalistic humor of the Rwandan countryside, and the thoughtful storyline provides an enriching experience driven by a concern over questions on the meaning of peace, justice, and attaining the well-being of humanity in Rwanda.

A quiet miniature portrait of a society once destroyed by lies and hate, now being torn apart by ignorance and silence and an unwillingness to face its own demons. Its emotional incisiveness can be heartbreaking, though often I felt the same distance that the characters insist on keeping between themselves and their pain, which, barely visible, seethes under the outwardly blank faces of the two lead actors. The ending may be a bit too easy, but it makes its point -- a point well worth making.

"There's a patient attentiveness and inquisitiveness to Munyurangabo. that seemingly springs, at least in part, from the cultural divide between Korean-American filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung and his native Rwandan cast, milieu, and language." - Nick Schager