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.

The Dictator Hunter is a rare gem of a human rights film which at once motivates and instills us with a new sense of justice. Souleymane Guengueng was imprisoned on false charges during Habré’s regime and felt the fist of the dictator first-hand. He then bravely began the laborious task of investigating and recording the atrocities of Habré’s regime – at one point burying the incriminating files under his family’s home – before fleeing to the U.S. to seek asylum. To Mr. Guengueng’s fortune, the country which spawned Habré also produced Reed Brody, an American lawyer who has devoted his life to bringing dictators to justice. The story follows the unlikely team of Brody and Guengueng as they muster resources and public opinion to hold Habré accountable.

Map of Chad

If you kill one person, you go to jail. If you kill 40 people, they put you in an insane asylum. But if you kill 40,000 people, you get a comfortable exile with a bank account in another country, and that’s what we want to change here.
–Reed Brody

Through Brody and Guengueng’s victories – and plight – we learn that bringing perpetrators of mass atrocities to justice is as much a political struggle as it is a legal one. The Senegalese courts, for example, fear prosecuting Habré without wider endorsement of the international community, yet the U.S. refrains from outright support because of the potential implications for American presidents acting under the color of their office. And this makes Brody and Guengueng’s patient, steady drive at Habré all the more poignant. The Dictator Hunter manages to turn courtroom quibbles and backroom deals into tense moments, for each minor victory is another peg in combating impunity worldwide.

The documentary is skillfully directed and manages to educate without becoming didactic. Whenever possible, we hear from both Habré’s side (mostly through his vacuous lawyer) and from the victims. Brody is a tireless advocate who is forced to choose between fighting dictators and caring for his own family, and soon it becomes clear that justice against Habré is as much a personal victory for Brody as for his clients. He is aggressive, stubborn, and somewhat arrogant – but Brody is exactly the kind of person that should be waging such battles. In the boardroom, he’d be just another lawyer. Even more telling is Mr. Guengueng, who mustered the courage to continue his fight against Habré when it would have been easier to forget.

Hissène Habré on the Way to Court

The scene that has sparked some controversy in the film depicts Brody’s visit to Chad with a leader of a non-profit dedicated to helping victims who suffered under Habré. As they examine the unmarked graves of torture victims, a group of widows emerge in the sahel imploring Brody to bring Habré to justice for the killing of their husbands. For some reason the scene feels staged. The director insists that it was in fact the opposite, a spontaneous occurrence that was so imbued with genuine emotion that the widows’ heartfelt pleas have become confused with melodrama. I’ll leave it up to you to decide.

In any event, the exhumations of Habré’s dirty past unearth some deeper questions. How do you fight a dictator who has millions of dollars at his disposal? What does asylum mean if, like Mr. Guengueng, you arrive in the U.S. unable to find a job or reunite with your family, especially when the U.S. caused you to flee your country in the first place? (Human Rights Watch is seeking to raise funds to hire Mr. Guengueng.) What incentives can be placed so that leaders in power – who make decisions that can destroy the lives of millions of people – will sign on to join international criminal treaties? Especially when amnesty is not a viable option?

The beauty of The Dictator Hunter is that, in seventy-five minutes, it draws you into one of the most important discussions of this century: how to hold the world’s most powerful leaders accountable for their actions. With people like Brody nipping at their heels, there is certainly room for hope.

–Deji Olukotun

The Dictator Hunter can be found at the Human Rights Watch film festival, which will be screening around the world. www.hrw.org/iff.

Visit the Human Rights watch page dedicated to the Habré case at http://www.hrw.org/justice/habre/.

Visit the film website at www.thedictatorhunter.com.