After seeing numerous films about genocides, I researched more about "filming the unfilmable".
Peter Raymont (who made the documentary Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire) questioned the use of video footage showing people being slaughtered, supposing that "These are people who are dead or injured and you haven’t asked for permission to use that footage, so you wonder: Does it serve a greater purpose or not?” Raymont asks,“When does it become exploitative?” The issue of exploiting victims of genocide is a very controversial topic. While being a witness to the victims is extremely important, filmmakers (and writers, as in the case of Peter Galloway, who wrote about the cellist from Sarajevo) must be careful not to use the victims' final moments of life as a way to make money for themselves. "On the other hand", Raymont added, "it’s important to convey the horror and the evil". "You don't want to desensitize viewers to horror and violence … [which] … of course can happen". Katrina Onstad supposes that a balance must be reached for a film about genocide to "succeed".
Samantha Power (author of A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide) said that “Hotel Rwanda is particularly powerful because it’s not a black-and-white genocide from ancient history. It’s genocide shot in colour in the present day. If we have to choose the more palatable Trojan horse, I’ll take it. Maybe the next film will be about Darfour. It can’t come soon enough.” Showing films and video footage from the past is always important and spreads information of past genocides, in hope of preventing future genocides from occurring.
SOURCE
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/genocide.html
