[Though Beyond the Gates was originally released to the international market in 2005 under a different title and the subject matter is a matter of historical record—thus making the film’s story common knowledge in some circles—be aware that the discussion which follows may constitute spoilers to some degree.]

In April 1994, in the first week of the genocide that killed nearly one million Rwandans, about 2,500 men, women and children were killed at the Ecole Technique Officielle, a secondary school in Kilgali.  The school had been the base for a Belgian army company that was part of the UN monitoring force.  Because the army was there, Rwandans and European workers in Rwanda came there for protection when the violence started.  When the Europeans and army evacuated, the Hutu mob outside the compound gates came in and slaughtered the Tutsi who were left behind.



A few years ago, the film Hotel Rwanda opened our eyes to what had happened.  It was never a secret, but most of us just weren’t paying attention.  Beyond the Gates tells the story again, but it is not just a different story about the same event.  Beyond the Gates is the story of the spiritual torment and spiritual struggle of the people involved.

The film opens with a Buddhist proverb: Every man is given the key to open the gates of heaven.  The same key also opens the gates of hell.  The film is an examination of the choices that people make in the face of evil and danger.  Those choices decide which gate we are opening.

Central to the story are three Europeans: Father Christopher, a Catholic priest who has been in Africa for over thirty years; Joe Conner, a teacher at the school who has come to spend a year to try to make the world a better place; and Captain Delon, a Belgian solder who is in Rwanda as part of the UN force.  The three of them must decide how they will act in the face of the genocide.  In many ways these three also represent the church, the European/American society, and the world powers.

All three of these men realize the hopelessness of the situation.  There is no way to save the people on the school grounds.  But each must make difficult choices for how they will act in these terrible times.

Father Christopher is the hero of the story.  He gets all the good speeches.  He also refuses to abandon the people even though he knows it will mean he must die with them.  He is very Christlike in his response.  Even in his anger, he reflects those times when Jesus’ anger could not be held back.  His final words, looking at the man who will kill him, are “Even now, looking in your eyes, the only thing I feel is love.”

Christopher stands in contrast with Joe, who truly wants to do good and is even willing to go to great risk, but in the end, leaves the others behind because, as he explains later, “I was afraid to die.”  He also stands in contrast with Delon, who never uses the military power he commands, because his orders preclude it.  He only follows orders, not his heart.  At one point he tells Christopher that his grandparents hid Jews during the Nazi occupation, and he seems sad that he cannot act as nobly as they did.  But when he leaves, he says to Father Christopher, “I was given no choice.”

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