Trees of Peace

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THE TREES OF PEACE

The story unfolds in Rwanda of 1994 as there is massacre and disruption. Four women with
different backgrounds find refuge in a kitchen store basement. Annick, a Hutu pregnant woman,
who owns the kitchen basement, Mutesi, a Tutsi Woman. Peyton, a white American. Jeanette, a
nun.

This movie is written and directed by Alana Brown who sees the need to inform people that they
are not alone on the struggle for survival. She takes us back to the days of the Rwanda war and
highlights four women from different races and backgrounds. In an interview with Shadow and
Act, she says that, while she was undergoing her research, she discovers that Rwanda has the
highest percentage of women leaders as opposed to any other country in the world. And this she
says, drove her to create the Trees of Peace.

History has it that the decades following the gruesome Rwandan civil war, the Tutsi minority
ethnic group were subjected to unimaginable violence between April and July 1994.

The story unwinds with Annick hurriedly clearing out the kitchen basement and as the chaos
aggravates, Francois her husband locked her in the basement. The camera takes us on a tour
through their living room, as Annick narrates her story and we can see that she and her husband
are both educated however, expectant parents. Annick is later in the company of Peyton, a
mysterious white woman and a volunteer of the social service, Jeanette, a nun in her habit, and
Mutesi a Tutsi woman is full of anger and resent.

The women after moments of solitude and loneliness, begin to find solace in one another. They
share stories of their survival before the war and during the war and how they got to the
basement. During the course of their stay, we discover that Annick is 5 months pregnant and has
had 3 miscarriages before this present one. Mutesi says she is broken because she could not be an
advocate in the time of trouble, she leaves her mum when the war erupts to find safety and hence
cannot forgive herself for that. Peyton

Alana plays on irony as she uses the nun sister who is supposed to be an advocate of God to
cause tension amongst the women. The nun sister is seen stealing food from the white woman
because she was hungry. Can we say that is enough justification for her stealing? She is supposed
to show light to others as a religious and more so, if there was any to complain of hunger it
should have been Annick who has another life inside her.

81 days in a small basement with horror and hallucination, the women find strength in each
other, build trust for one another. We discover that each of them has a broken background.
Peyton, the white who came to volunteer as part of the Peace Projects organization, we realize
used to be an addict and one of such occasions, it led to death of her brother. She says her mum
has not forgiven her for that and neither has she forgiven herself and that’s why when the
opportunity for her to leave comes, she throws it away and prefers to stay in the basement with
the other women.

They begin to unite over a children book Peyton has; ‘Seeds of Love, Trees of Peace’. You are
probably wondering how they got to start reading a book. Well, as their conversation progresses,
Annick admits that she cannot read and would love to be able to teach her son how to read.
Peyton and Jeanette take it upon themselves to teach Annick, even though Jeanette is just a little
better than Annick. While the rest read and play, Mutesi excludes herself from the act but
watches them keenly. She’s deeply wounded, but her ego is not letting her open up to her new
environment. The use of the camera to show her interest and distant involvement in the game the
others are playing is highly professional. She spells something Annick finds hard to and all 3
women turn towards her with annoyance, Annick speaks up and discards her attitude. Mutesi
succumbs and spills her past and why she’s so in to herself.

They all hug and comfort Mutesi and afterwards, all four women continue the reading and
playing of games. Every once in a while, Francois brings food for the women, but for lack, he
could not bring food to the women for a long time. They became weak and dying. He finally
shows up but with little food, they pounce on the food and a fight ensue as Jeanette is trying to
get Mutesi to eat with caution. Over the course of reading the book, the women name Annick’s
son after the author of the book they read. Finally, after 81 days, the women decide to come out,
and are met with hope, as they discover that there are people who come to their rescue alongside
Annick’s husband.

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