Time of "Reckoning"
When is a film not just a film? When it's "a starting point" for dialogue about a pressing global issue.
That's what the makers of "The Reckoning," a documentary about the International Criminal Court in The Hague, hope will come from their film, which had its last Sundance Film Festival screening Saturday morning at Park City's Holiday Village Cinemas. (Here's the Tribune's review, and here's the web site of the movie's outreach program.)
Former ICC prosecutor Christine Chung, champions the ICC's work in prosecuting genocide and other war crimes in Uganda, the Congo and Darfur - and notes that even though the ICC has yet to get a conviction (their first actual trial, against a Ugandan militia leader, starts on Monday), the fact that someone is trying can be enough to prompt others to act.
Chung points to Gen. Laurent Nkunda, a supposedly untouchable Congolese rebel leader who was arrested by Rwandan troops on Thursday, according to The New York Times.
In the Congo, Chung said, "These are people who have never seen justice, and they want it so badly."
Chung doesn't believe the ICC will ever try to prosecute U.S. leaders for their role in the torture and improper detention at Guantanamo, Cuba. For one thing, the United States is not a signatory to the ICC treaty, something strongly opposed by the Bush administration (and, the filmmakers believe, not high on President Barack Obama's radar). For another, any request to investigate would have to come through the UN Security Council - and the United States has a veto in that body.
More importantly, the ICC only acts when the local government fails to act. "We need to solve whatever problem with Bush and Cheney ourselves," Chung said. "We should be able to handle that as Americans."
That's what the makers of "The Reckoning," a documentary about the International Criminal Court in The Hague, hope will come from their film, which had its last Sundance Film Festival screening Saturday morning at Park City's Holiday Village Cinemas. (Here's the Tribune's review, and here's the web site of the movie's outreach program.)
Former ICC prosecutor Christine Chung, champions the ICC's work in prosecuting genocide and other war crimes in Uganda, the Congo and Darfur - and notes that even though the ICC has yet to get a conviction (their first actual trial, against a Ugandan militia leader, starts on Monday), the fact that someone is trying can be enough to prompt others to act.
Chung points to Gen. Laurent Nkunda, a supposedly untouchable Congolese rebel leader who was arrested by Rwandan troops on Thursday, according to The New York Times.
In the Congo, Chung said, "These are people who have never seen justice, and they want it so badly."
Chung doesn't believe the ICC will ever try to prosecute U.S. leaders for their role in the torture and improper detention at Guantanamo, Cuba. For one thing, the United States is not a signatory to the ICC treaty, something strongly opposed by the Bush administration (and, the filmmakers believe, not high on President Barack Obama's radar). For another, any request to investigate would have to come through the UN Security Council - and the United States has a veto in that body.
More importantly, the ICC only acts when the local government fails to act. "We need to solve whatever problem with Bush and Cheney ourselves," Chung said. "We should be able to handle that as Americans."
posted by Sean P. Means @ 3:20 PM |
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home