FictionThatMatters.org

The Dictator Hunter
A Klaartje Quirijns Film
Directed by Klaartje Quirijns, Produced by Pieter van Huystee
Starring Reed Brody, Souleymane Guengueng
Documentary, 75 minutes. 2007.

This seminal film celebrates the efforts of victims, lawyers, and activists to bring Hissène Habré, the most notorious dictator ‘you’ve never heard of’, to justice for mass atrocities. Habré controlled the central African nation of Chad during the height of the Reagan era. Used as a bulwark by the United States against Libyan president Qaddafi, Habré profited from his American backing to systematically kill and torture ethnic groups throughout his country. He fled to Senegal in 1990, where he lived in peaceful luxury enjoying the spoils of his brutal reign. Peaceful luxury, that is, until his victims began to speak – and team up with one of the most extraordinary lawyers alive today.

Read the full review here.