Two outsiders become witnesses to bloody genocide in Rwanda in this fact-based drama from director Michael Caton-Jones. In 1994, Joe Connor (Hugh Dancy) is a British schoolteacher who has volunteered to spend a year at the Ecole Technique Officielle, a school in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. Connors arrival in Rwanda occurs as tensions between members of the Tutsi tribe, who dominated the nations leadership, and the Hutus, who often played on traditional animosity between the two, were exploding into a civil war. Connor had already seen signs of the coming conflict in the abuse meted out to Marie (Clare-Hope Ashitey), a Tutsi student who was one of his star pupils, as well as the bitter hatred expressed by Francois (David Gyasi), a Hutu janitor at the school. As the conflict between the Tutsis and Hutus exploded into widespread violence, with extreme Hutu factions slaughtering Tutsis by the thousands, the Ecole Technique became a base of operations for Belgian peacekeeping forces from the United Nations. Most extended visitors from the West (especially America and Europe) fled Rwanda as the fighting broke out, but Connor decided to stay, and struck up a friendship with Father Christopher (John Hurt), a Catholic priest who had come to the nation as a missionary. As Father Christopher serves mass and strives to offer solace to the Tutsis and moderate Hutus caught in the fighting, he and Connor use the school as a safe haven for Tutsi refugees; however, after five days of genocidal killing, the U.N. troops move out, leaving little hope for the people they were supposed to protect. Beyond the Gates was produced by David Belton, who helped write the films story; Belton was a photographer with the BBC who was assigned to Rwanda when the fighting broke out. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide