I was fortunate enough to be invited by friends from Couples for Christ to the Philippine premiere of Miracle in Rwanda. It was entertaining, poignant and very meaningful. It was a one-woman play wherein Leslie Lewis Sword brings to life the harrowing yet deeply moving experiences of Immaculée Ilibgiza.
The basic story is one of survival. In 1994 the plane bearing Rwanda's Hutu President was shot down, this triggered his tribesmen to exterminate their long time enemies the Tutsi's. The genocide to follow is the most brutal of our time, almost a million people killed in three months. Hutu militia armed with machetes tore through the Tutsi's villages, killing in cold blood, in broad day light and raping and pillaging along the way. Immaculée Ilibgiza was a daughter of a devoted Catholic teacher/businessman who hid in a stifling hot bathroom with cramped in with seven other women for those three months.
Leslie was Immaculée. She has a real gift for storytelling, coupled with the ability to become the different characters in the life story of Immaculée was a truly unique experience. I remember watching Hotel Rwanda wherein Don Cheadle plays a heroic hotel manager who gave sanctuary to some Tutsis refugees who were fleeing from genocide at the hands of their Hutu neighbors. While that story was about generosity this one was about grace. While cinema has the ability to tell great stories, theatre fleshes out the drama, as if adding another dimension. Is it depth? Is it the innocence and immediacy of another's face too close to disregard? Whatever it is this one made me feel differently about a story I thought I knew.
To be sure Leslie had something to do with it. She has such a feel for the deeply emotional points of Immaculée's story. The genuine fear, the courage to survive, the trust in God and in His instrument the pastor all these struck a chord. But the really powerful stuff is in the transformation in Immaculée herself, as she transcended the very human drive to bear a grudge, and hold on to the hurt of losing her family, and her people. She was even able to forgive the man Felicien who butchered several members of her family.
Leslie was thoroughly engaging, as she showed us the different faces of our humanity. Her face livid one moment when she is a Hutu butcher, and the picture of helplessness when she is Immaculée. She also channels the Huti pastor who gives Immaculée refuge, a French soldier, Immaculée's father, and as the story's spirituality became apparent she also became Mother Mary's apparition and the loving presence of Jesus Christ. She played all these convincingly, the way Eddie Murphy would without the make-up.
I appreciated the simplicity of the production, hardly any props just masking tape marking the claustrophobic three by four feet wherein she hid, at times mere inches from rabid Hutu butchers who were constantly searching the pastor's house. Leslie choreographed the logistics of the whole production so well the different characters she played interacted so fluidly.
In the end she brought to the stage a great story, in a simple yet impactful way and she also had a deeper message of hope and love rooted in the Catholic faith. A definite must see!
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