Beyond the Gates

Beyond the Gates (2007)

  • 84% of critics liked it
    (62 reviews)

  • 81% of users liked it
    (17,045 ratings)

Two outsiders witness an onslaught of bloody Rwandan genocide in this fact-based drama from director Michael Caton-Jones (Scandal). In 1994, Joe Connor (Hugh Dancy) is a British schoolteacher who has volunteered to spend a year at the École Technique Officielle, a school in the Rwandan capital of… More

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R, 1 hr. 55 min.
Directed By
Michael Caton-Jones
Written By
David Wolstencroft
Genres
Drama
In Theaters
Dec 8, 2005 Wide
On DVD
Sep 18, 2007
IFC First Take

Critic Reviews

  • J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

    This is a spiritual drama, not a political one, drawing a thick line between our good intentions and the selfish choices we ultimately make.

  • Stephen Holden, New York Times

    Though less reassuring and not as dramatically coherent as Hotel Rwanda, it still packs a hard punch.

  • Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

    Movies about Africa often fall into this trap. Righteous indignation is the exclusive province of non-Africans.

  • Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

    A gripping fictionalized account of a 1994 incident in Rwanda that became a shocking emblem of the Rwandan Hutus' mass slaughter of the Tutsis.

  • Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle

    By keeping most of the action contained to the school grounds and immediate environs, director Michael Caton-Jones creates a claustrophobic atmosphere where fear can fester.

Read all 16 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Douglas W C


    This is one incredible and sad movie. Powerful. The question is what would you have done in the same situation and really could you have done anything. Would give it 5 stars but I just could not sit and watch what they did to these people again.

  • Jens S


    Thematically similar to Hotel Rwanda this movie about the genocide of 1994 presents an equally hopeless situation as the angry mob gathers outside a school, (only temporarily) protected by UN soldiers, who refuse to do anything more than their mandate tells them. As the situation gets… More

  • Walter M


    [font=Century Gothic]It would be the easiest thing in the world to simply write off "Beyond the Gates" as another tearjerker but it has got more things on its mind than that.(A very unsentimental ending does raise it to another level.) In telling the story about two white… More

  • Leo L


    OUTSTANDING MOVIE!! Here's an amazing movie that depicts upon human tragedy that occurred in 1994 Rwanda. Highly touching story plot. Amazing performances by Hugh Dancy and John Hurt. Definitely a must-see.

Cast

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