Witness the Evil | Roméo Dallaire / DND Documentary

Client: Department of National Defence (LGen Roméo Dallaire – retired).

Project assignment: Raise awareness of the need to acknowledge and treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in the Canadian Armed Forces. Dallaire looked me in the eye at our first meeting and said, “If you don’t make the audience cry, you’ve failed.”

Approach: Collected the very personal and moving stories of Forces personnel who served during the genocide in Rwanda, (including Dallaire), on camera in a safe and respectful atmosphere. Blended them with actual video footage shot during and after the event, in a documentary format. Several interviewees broke down during the process but insisted on continuing the interview. The final film was mandatory viewing for all CAF personnel. It aired on the CBC and eventually triggered several significant program changes at DND to both prevent and treat PTSD. And, in the end, many viewers wept, including me.

Here are two clips from the documentary, as it aired on CBC and across DND.