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Trees of Peace
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Women hide from genocide; language, intense violence.
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Trees of Peace
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What's the Story?
As TREES OF PEACE begins, Hutu murderers stalk and murder Tutsis on the street. Murderous Hutus threaten the Hutus who refuse to kill with death. Francois is a moderate Hutu (Tongayi Chirisa) who locks his pregnant Hutu wife Annick (Eliane Unuhire) in a 5 x 5 storage area below their kitchen. He has also rescued a nun named Jeanette (Charmaine Bingwa) and a White American volunteer named Peyton (Ella Cannon). They all expect the world to rush in and stop the Hutus, but no help comes. Francois also rescues Mutesi (Bola Kileosho), a Tutsi running for her life, and hands her over to Annick. For the next several months, the four women fear discovery and await Francois' infrequent returns with food and water, struggling with anxiety and hunger. The women bicker and moan. As do characters in Sartre's nihilist play No Exit, the women at first demonstrate that hell is other people, until they begin to open up and empathize, partly through sharing their painful life stories and partly as they use a children's book to help them teach each other to read and write English. Ultimately, they all forgive each other their weaknesses and band together to survive.
Is It Any Good?
The first half of Trees of Peace feels like a recap of other movies about people under duress during wartime. The message is the usual: Some are noble and generous, and others are weak, selfish, angry, critical, and ungrateful. But director Alanna Brown begins to break the characters down into individuals and although some of their backstories feel a bit cliched, the actors help create a believable growing bond that unites the women, leaving us with an inspiring story of loyalty and also soaring female power.
Text that runs at the movie's end describes the triumph over tragedy of women who survived the genocide and created healing reconciliation tribunals that bathed the broken country in forgiveness and led to high numbers of women in leadership positions, a higher percentage of female government officials than any other nation on earth. It's interesting to note that the film doesn't bother to explain why the Hutu hate the Tutsi. The answer is obvious as it is for all prejudices: There is no good reason.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the origins of prejudice. Why do you think the movie doesn't bother to explain why Hutus hate Tutsis?
How does the movie move from the story of four people at odds with one another to one in which women find a way to work together for a cause?
Why do you think hatred among people so often leads to violence? What other heinous historical events does the Rwanda genocide parallel?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: June 10, 2022
- Cast: Eliane Unuhire , Charmaine Bingwa , Ella Cannon , Bola Kileosho , Tongayi Chirisa
- Director: Alanna Brown
- Inclusion Information: Female actors, Gay actors, Black actors
- Studio: Netflix
- Genre: Drama
- Run time: 97 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: February 17, 2023
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