“The 600” is available in Europe! Why Now??

Okay, it’s coincidental, but totally appropriate, that a worldwide release of the documentary “The 600” that includes Europe on MyMoviesAfrica

https://www.mymovies.africa/view/70ea6321a553b5b6

is taking place at the same time as the trial of Paul Rusesabagina, known for the heavily fictionalized movie “Hotel Rwanda”. The value of telling the story of actual heroes in “The 600” during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi can’t be underestimated. “Hotel Rwanda” didn’t live up to those standards.

“Hotel Rwanda” is a screenwriter’s creation based on real people but dramatized for entertainment. There is undeniable evidence that Rusesabagina was not nearly the hero that is depicted in the film.

See the work of journalist Linda Malvern here about the film’s accuracy:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/nov/17/hotel-rwanda-hollywood-ending

Yet, the pristine image from the movie has filtered the vast majority of coverage in the Western press of the trial, much of which declares without question that Rusesabagina is a hero who fell out of favor. It’s herd journalism, and very lazy. It colors whatever verdict Rusesabagina gets for the charges of terrorism against him in recent times.

One comment from Malvern’s article truly stands out: “Meanwhile, it seems, the righteous stand and heroism of those who did save lives in Rwanda is simply ignored”.

Now that “The 600″ is available more readily in the West (it’s also on Amazon Prime and a host of VOD outlets including iTunes and Vudu in the USA), we can offer a story that is not doctored by screenwriters, but told by survivors and rescuers themselves of true heroism unclouded by commercial interests. Over 90 interviews were conducted over a six month period to track and verify the stories in this film. Only Rwandans tell the story, all of them were there. There are no Western pundits, journalists, historians, or Africa ‘Experts” looking through their dusty prisms. It’s raw and real and I invite Africans in the Diaspora and the European countries that played a role in Rwanda’s history to see it for themselves.