Rwandan film about closing old wounds

The world has gradually been enlightened about the infamous 1994 genocide in Africa through the success of high-profile productions like “Hotel Rwanda,” through several excellent documentaries and through a decade and a half of political analysis on the subject.

Now the next logical step in the healing process is “Munyurangabo,” a simple story about a couple of Rwandan youths who were barely born at the time of that crisis.

“Munyurangabo” will be shown at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Historic Yuma Theatre, 254 S. Main St. The screening, part of Arizona Western College Foundation's Thursdays at the Theatre (formerly The Sun Cinema Series), includes an independent short film and a hosted discussion. Language is Kinyarwandan with English subtitles. Run time of the feature is 97 minutes; admission is $5.

Sins of their fathers

Sangwa and Ngabo have been bunking together and eking out a tough living in the capital city, Kigali. When they set out on a mission to the countryside, we wonder if it has something to do with the machete Ngabo stole in the crowded marketplace.

On the way, the two friends make a stop at Sangwa's old village, which he hasn't visited in three years. Sangwa's mother gushes over him and feeds him heartily though there's drought and near-famine. His dad scolds him sternly for letting the family down, but he warms up as Sangwa pitches in with the hoeing and fixes one of the crumbling walls.

Ngabo makes friends with one of the locals but doesn't endear himself to Sangwa's family when he comes stumbling home drunk. What really sets the dad off, though, is that Ngabo is a Tutsi. After all, "Hutus and Tutsis are supposed to be enemies."

On that subject, Ngabo has his own axe to grind, for his own father was among the half-million or more Tutsi slaughtered by the Hutu majority following a political assassination in 1994. He even suspects that Sangwa's dad took part in that mass hysteria. Inevitably, these old tensions will sorely strain the affections between the two friends.

Ngabo especially will have to face the question of whether his quest for justice is as strong as his compassion for humanity. His full name, Munyurangabo, was given to him by the father he never knew, after a legendary Rwandan warrior. “What will your battle be?” Ngabo hears his father's voice ask.

A modest evolution

“Munyurangabo” is nearly as interesting for the story of its creation as it is for its moving narrative. It is shot entirely in Rwanda with native actors and is in fact the first dramatic feature entirely in the Kinyarwandan language.

And yet it is the brainchild of first-time director Lee Isaac Chung, a second-generation Korean-American who grew up on a farm in Arkansas and attended Yale with dreams of becoming a doctor. After he was exposed to art-house cinema in his senior year, though, he was determined to make movies.

Three years ago, when Chung was working at a Christian relief base in Rwanda, he decided to run a workshop in filmmaking for 15 at-risk youths. The story centering on a Tutsi-Hutu friendship was intended only as a class project but quickly grew into a full-length feature, which they shot in 11 days using Super 16 film.

In contrast with “Slumdog Millionaire,” this film isn't likely to make instant international celebrities out of its group of amateur actors, but its themes are no less noble.