In DOORS OF THE PAST, filmmaker Rosine Mbakam juxtaposes the testimonies of three Rwandan genocide survivors—Rosette, Charlotte, and Christine—with images of well-dressed white Belgian women. The resulting dissonance brilliantly collapses distance and undercuts assumptions about the lives of refugees. Seeing a well-put-together professional in a Belgian boardroom looking at us as we hear the words, “Part of my family has been decimated... I ask God to give me strength to overcome my fears” drives home the dehumanization that often clouds discourse on refugees. Mbakam subtly and powerfully demonstrates that there is no “us” and “them.”
