The credits rolled on the world premiere of Shake Hands With the Devil,  and there was a brief silence when the applause would usually begin.  Perhaps the audience was too stunned to react immediately.  I started clapping.  So there?s another feather in my cap.  I was the first person to put my hands together for what will surely be one of the most important films of the year.  Of course that applause grew exponentially from there, and reached a crescendo when Senator Romeo Dallaire himself made his way to the stage.  A packed Elgin Theatre stood and applauded Dallaire until the humble Canadian hero asked them to stop.

Dallaire gave a brief, but impressive speech:  ?Are all humans human or are some more human than others?  Do some humans actually count more than others?  Have we not since the end of the cold war prioritized humanity and decided that our lives are more important than theirs and in so doing established a pecking order in humanity?  And although we believe in human rights we are still able to believe that the lives of one of us is more significant than the lives of others.  And in so doing we have established that the lowest priority of humanity for which we will not want to sacrifice, both cash and effort of political will, but also the blood of our own; the lowest priority is the sub-Saharan black African.  And we have entered an era that I consider more evil than even the colonial era.  This movie is part of the campaign to not let the Rwandan genocide die.  And Roger and his cast have done a great job.?

Dallaire wasn?t the only dignitary on hand.  The Canadian Ambassador to Rwanda was in the audience, as well as four Canadian soldiers who served during the Rwandan genocide.  The cast stood on stage briefly, but unlike other premieres where the presence of a major Canadian star like Roy Dupuis would be the lead of this blog, here his demeanor was sober and he said nothing. 

Seeing Dupuis in jeans, a plaid work-shirt, and leather jacket with a handsome scruffy beard brought home how amazing his transformation into Romeo Dallaire truly is.  If you were impressed at how Dupuis channeled Maurice Richard in The Rocket, you haven?t seen anything yet.

Most of you have probably read Dallaire?s book, or seen Peter Raymont?s documentary, both also titled Shake Hands With the Devil.  Perhaps you even wonder if a feature film is necessary.  First, you should understand how faithful the film is to the source material.  Director Roger Spotiswoode spoke with Dallaire before undertaking the challenging story.  Dallaire had three requirements.  1) Tell the truth.  2) Make it about the Rwandan people.  3) Don?t make me look like a hero.

Spotiswoode says he failed Dallaire.  Because in telling the story it was impossible not to make Dallaire and his men look like heroes.  These relatively few soldiers were responsible for saving over 30,000 lives.  Also because Dallaire and his men never gave up on the Rwandan people, even when the rest of the world did.

This is an amazing film that should do big things, both in the world of awards, box office tallies and publicity, but also in terms of raising awareness about the Rwandan genocide by making it accessible to the largest possible audience.

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"He was pretty much the last person I hugged before leaving for Rwanda," said Dupuis, whose leather jacket and lumberjack shirt yesterday played sartorial counterpoint to Dallaire's suit and tie.

Read More of Peter Howell's fascinating portrait of Roy Dupuis and Romeo Dallaire's meeting yesterday here -http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/254779