A press conference concerning the film, with Dallaire, Dupuis, Spottiswoode, the producers Laszlo Barna (Barna-Alper) and Michael Donovan (Halifax), as well as Wayne ClarksonofTelefilm Canada, occurred in Montréal on June 2, 2006.[5]
In a special account of the filming published in the Toronto Star on 22 July 2006, David Thompson observes that the actor Roy Dupuis "looks eerily like Dallaire, sporting a carefully groomed moustache, summer tan uniform and authentic blue beret":
Indeed, Dupuis is even wearing Dallaire's original army nametag and decorations from 1994. Dallaire is collaborating on this project – right down to a line-by-line review of the script – and insisted on giving Dupuis the decorations to add authenticity. He also gave Dupuis something of himself. "I feel a real connection with this man. He opened up to me", Dupuis says during an interview on the set, the first time he has spoken with media since the gruelling shoot began in Rwanda a month ago. "I'm here because of him." ("One Last Dance with the Devil")
In "New Rwanda Genocide Movie Criticizes U.N. Role", first posted on Reuters on August 9, 2006, Arthur Asiimwe quotes from his interview in Kigali with the film's director Roger Spottiswoode:
"Our film is about a man who was aware genocide was coming and tried to get the U.N. to allow him to do something about it, but ... instead it turned him down ... It is really about the bigger issue of what the U.N. role is in situations like these", he told Reuters at the capital's Amahoro stadium, which sheltered thousands of terrified residents in 1994 as the killers roamed the streets outside.
Spottiswoode said the film was particularly timely given the calls on the United Nations to intervene to end the war in Lebanon, and the ongoing efforts to send a U.N. force to stop rampant murders and rapes in Sudan's troubled Darfur region. The United States has called the Darfur conflict genocide.[6]
On August 13, 2006, Halifax's The Chronicle Herald issued a call for extras, reporting "After filming several months in Kigali, Rwanda, crews return to Halifax to begin the final shoot ... It will be released in Canada [in September 2007] by Seville Pictures. Pay channels The Movie Network, Movie Central, and Super Écran have signed on for broadcast rights, along with the CBC and its French-language network Radio-Canada."[7] According to Marie-Chantal Fiset, in her interview with Jean-Guy Plante published on August 27, 2006,『J'ai serré la main du diable, en version française, devrait sortir en salle en octobre 2007.』 (The French version of the film, entitled J'ai serré la main du diable, will open in movie theaters in October 2007.)
The film received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 55% based on reviews from 11 critics.[8]OnMetacritic the film had an average score of 57 out of 100, based on 8 reviews.[9]
Fiset, Marie-Chantal. "Jean-Guy Plante replonge au coeur du génocide rwandais:[permanent dead link] Originaire de St-Félix, il a participé au tournage de Shake Hands with the Devil." [Interview with former soldier and military spokesman for the United Nations who served as the film's consultant on military matters.] Le Citoyen de l'Harricana (Amos, Abitibi, Québec) August 27, 2006. Les Hebdos Régionaux de Quebecor August 26, 2006. Accessed August 27, 2006. (Incl. photo of Plante with Roy Dupuis during shooting.)
Fraughton, Holly. "Out of Africa: Filming in Rwanda 'bit of a culture shock' for Director of Photography Bibby." [Interview.] Halifax Chronicle-Herald August 27, 2006. Accessed August 27, 2006.
Thompson, Allan. "One Last Dance with the Devil: On Location in Rwanda, As the Cast and Crew of Shake Hands with the Devil Try to Recreate an Unimaginable Horror." Toronto Star July 22, 2006.
