Peeling away layers of pain, layers of perspectives, passing by both trauma and hope, this film dives into Rwanda thirty years after the genocide. Covering such a topic has always presented itself as a challenge to documentarians. While Claude Lanzmann’s “Shoa” (1985) is over nine hours long, “Traces of Responsibility” unfolds its eight potential hours as innumerable 85 to 110-minute screenings. In allowing different viewing experiences, this film does not commit to a single version of Rwanda, but rather accentuates its multifaceted, and, yes, complex history. The audience may vote to visit genocide memorials and hear survivor testimonies or to follow a theatre troupe educating children about tolerance. They might choose to visit a market or an art museum, to go to a karaoke bar or to just go home.
“You could a write a 1,000-page book just from our [two] stories,” says Semana Jumapili, a survivor we might encounter. When one considers this, even this film of many paths seems limited. There are countless stories to be told. The genocide in Rwanda was horrifying, and yet there is so much solace in the people we encounter throughout the film. They inspire us to fight injustice and heal wounds which seem too big to overcome.

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