The Dictator Hunter

Attorney Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch even declined a lucrative job at the United Nations to continue his hunt for Former President Hissène Habré of Chad, under whose regime tens of thousands of citizens were tortured and killed between 1984 and 1990. Brody's pursuit of this 'African Pinochet' consists mainly of beginning at the international justice system and lobbying to get the trial onto the African political agenda. "You have to play the game." Fluent in French, the American Brody is indefatigable. Director Klaartje Quirijns follows him from meetings with diplomats in New York to Paris, where one of the worst members of the Chadian regime resides. They go on to Senegal, where Habré lives in exile, and have a harrowing encounter with angry widows in Chad. The film not only provides insight into the situation at the time, as well as America's role in it, but also into the methods that this lawyer uses to achieve his goal. At the African Union Summit in Banjul in June 2006, the decision to bring Habré to trial was high on the agenda; if the African leaders voted yes, it would establish a unique precedent.