Sometimes in April

Sometimes in April
by Raoul Peck

List Price: ~~$14.98~~
Our Price: $10.49
You Save: $4.49 (30%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $3.94 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details

Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD details

Actor: Carole Karemera, Fraser James, Idris Elba, Oris Erhuero, Pamela Nomvete
Director: Raoul Peck
Brand: WINGER,DEBRA
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; Kinyarwanda (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 140 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-05-10
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: HBO Home Video

DVD Reviews of Sometimes in April

DVD Review: I was hoping for more
Summary: 3 Stars

This movie was about the geoncide in Rwanda in 1994. It follows the story a hutu soldier married to a tutsi woman. It flashes from past to present quite a bit and it can be confusing at times. The story is a bit long winded for my tastes and I actually found myself becoming bored at times. I much prefer Hotel Rwanda or the National Geographic documentary. Both of those were riveting IMO and this just lacked something. Nevertheless, it is still a decent movie worth watching at least once. Some people really liked it, so maybe I am just being overly critical of the film right now.

DVD Review: Graphic yet gripping
Summary: 5 Stars

I had purchased this review after hearing a Relevant magazine podcast where the magazine editor had traveled to Rwanda. In the interview the editor, Cameron Strang had commented on how the local people in Rwanda had said that if they had to pick a movie that told their story, they would choose 'Sometimes in April'. Hotel Rwanda was good, but it did not accurately capture the character that Don Cheadle played. The main factor missing, which Hollywood inserted, was genuine compassion for the people that he was saving.

This was truly an excellent movie produced by HBO films and Raoul Peck. Movies like these need to be made to give voice to the voiceless who are victimized and so that we here in the West, can learn from the mistakes made in the past, so that future generations will never ever let something like what happened in Rwanda occur again.

The genocide occurring in Darfur has such chilling parallels, but at least the people there don't have to shame the rest of the world into action to provide help. There we have a chance to stop genocide as it is actually occurring.

I would totally recommend this film, for those that want to see a movie that will challenge them, and leave an imprint on them to become advocates for the voiceless.

DVD Review: Powerful and Compelling
Summary: 5 Stars

While we were watching O.J. Simpson's white blazer on the News, the genocide was going on in Rwanda. This film captures the obsurdity of how something so drastic can happen and be ignored in our world. It is an absolutely gripping film.

DVD Review: What can I say
Summary: 5 Stars

You watch this and you cry. Such inhumanity seems impossible. One has to believe in a "higher power," one has to hope...in order to survive.

DVD Review: Powerful movie.
Summary: 5 Stars

You know what was truly amazing about this movie was that they showed what was being viewed on the TV here in the United States. Yes, I know that we cannot and should not police the enitre world. This I am aware of, however, watching the 15-25 second news and then watching 15 minutes on the suicide of Kirk Cobain really hit home to me for some odd reason. I feel we should have been more informed and more compassionate about this. Well that is my two cents of this movie. If you want to shed some tears I would recommend to you this film.

Description of Sometimes in April

Set against the backdrop of the genocide of Rwanda's Tutsi people by the Hutu nationalists, explores the delicate relationship between two Hutu brothers whose lives are forever changed by the actions of their countrymen.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: UN
Release Date: 10-MAY-2005
Media Type: DVD

A clear-eyed look at the Rwandan genocide is offered in Sometimes in April, a frank take on the 1994 slaughter that claimed upwards of 800,000 lives. Some overlap with Hotel Rwanda is inevitable, and this HBO feature does have similarities, but without the strong suspenseful storyline of Hotel. Its protagonist (the strong Idris Elba, from The Wire) pieces together the past tragedy from the perspective of a decade-later war-crimes tribunal, where his brother is on trial. It's hard to know which is less bearable--the depiction of atrocities, such as mass murder at a girls school, or the second-guessing of the international community, which largely stood by while the horror was unfolding. (Like Hotel Rwanda, this film zeroes in on the U.S. government's distinction that "acts of genocide" occurred in Rwanda rather than "genocide," a Joseph Heller-like absurdity.) The plain style of director Raoul Peck, shooting on location in Rwanda, works for the subject; his film Lumumba was also a direct, blunt account of a tragedy in Africa. The approach doesn't work as well in the U.S. scenes, which feature Debra Winger as a concerned official; these just look clumsy. But the subject itself remains worthy of close attention. --Robert Horton

General DVDs

DVD Video

Bestsellers in General DVDs

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - The Eighth Season
Release date: 2008-10-14; DVD
Best price: $43.99
Price in other shops: ~~$84.98~~

Mad Men - Season One
MAD MEN - SEASON 1 (DVD MOVIE); Release date: 2008-07-01; DVD
Best price: $27.00
Price in other shops: ~~$49.98~~

The Unit - The Complete Third Season
Release date: 2008-10-14; DVD
Best price: $25.50
Price in other shops: ~~$39.98~~

Smallville - The Complete Seventh Season Image

Smallville - The Complete Seventh Season
Release date: 2008-09-09; DVD
Best price: $34.97
Price in other shops: ~~$59.98~~

House, M.D. - Season Four
HOUSE: SEASON FOUR (DVD MOVIE); Release date: 2008-08-19; DVD
Best price: $28.99
Price in other shops: ~~$59.98~~

Dexter - The Complete Second Season
PARAMOUNT PICTURES; Release date: 2008-08-19; DVD
Best price: $18.25
Price in other shops: ~~$39.98~~

Grey's Anatomy: The Complete Fourth Season
Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2008-09-09; DVD
Best price: $31.00
Price in other shops: ~~$59.99~~

John Adams (HBO Miniseries)
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2008-06-10; DVD
Best price: $30.96
Price in other shops: ~~$59.99~~

The Dark Knight (Widescreen Single-Disc Edition)
Release date: 2008-12-09; DVD
Best price: $16.99
Price in other shops: ~~$28.98~~

The Dark Knight (Two-Disc Special Edition + Digital Copy) Image

The Dark Knight (Two-Disc Special Edition + Digital Copy)
Release date: 2008-12-09; DVD
Best price: $22.99
Price in other shops: ~~$34.98~~

Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs

Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak
by Jean Hatzfeld
Picador; Published: 2006-04-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.36
Price in other shops: ~~$15.00~~

POV: Lost Boys of Sudan
Release date: 2004-11-02; DVD
Best price: $13.04
Price in other shops: ~~$26.95~~

Lumumba
Release date: 2002-11-05; DVD
Best price: $11.58
Price in other shops: ~~$19.99~~

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda
by Philip Gourevitch
Picador; Published: 1999-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops: ~~$15.00~~

Darfur Diaries: Message From Home
DARFUR DIARIES (DVD MOVIE); Release date: 2006-10-17; DVD
Best price: $9.41
Price in other shops: ~~$19.95~~