Movies, Media & Memoirs
about UN Peacekeepers 

 

Movies (dramatization of real events)

Black Hawk Down (2001) – US forces, loosely connected  to the UN operation  in Somalia, combat againt a Somali warlord (In reality, US soldiers were saved by UN peacekeepers, though hardly recognized in the film) Netflix; trailer

Malbatt: Misi Bakara (2023) – the Malasian Battalion plays a major role in rescuing downed US forces in Mogadishu. Does more justice to UN role than Black Hawk Down. (Netflix)

Quo Vadis, Aida? (2021) – Aida works as a translator for the UN mission in Srebrenica, just prior to the 1995 slaughter. Trailer (YouTube)

Sergio (2020) – Biographical drama of life and death of Sergio Viera de Mello, who was Transitional Administrator in East Timor 1999-2002, based on book by Samantha Power, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_(2020_film)

Shake Hands with the Devil (2007)  – (YouTube trailer). inspired by Roméo Dallaire's book of the same title it is an engaging films, showing peacekeepers making a difference against huge odds.
         Other films about Rwandan genocide featuring peacekeepers (but not from the peacekeepers' perspective):
         Beyond the Gates (2005, IFC Films/Adirondack/BBC) (Amazon) and
        Hotel Rwanda (2004) – UN is depicted as having little use in repelling attacks on the hotel and civilians in the country. Script: http://dailyscript.com/scripts/hotel_rwanda.html
        Sometimes in April (2005) US TV historical drama

The Siege of Jadotville (2016) – an Irish unit repelling an attack in the Congo in 1961 (Netflix), script: https://www.scripts.com/script-pdf/21308

The Whistleblower (2010)  – US police  officer, working as a UN peacekeeper in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1999, discovers a sex trafficking ring run by a contracor to NATO & with UN officials turning  a blind eye; unfavorable to the UN, though the main antagonists were contractors. https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/06/29/the-whistleblower-the-movie-the-u-n-would-prefer-you-didnt-see. Amazon Prime Video.

 

TV series

Answered by Fire (YouTube) – Two part mini-series on the 1999-2001 UN missions in East Timor, featuring UN police from Australia. (Australian-Canadian co-production). Quite true to actual events, though with many composite characters.

King of Krasna – Canadian peacekeepers in former Yugoslavia (unable to find online)

Peacekeepers (CBC, 1997, 2 hr) – drama about Canadian  peacekeepers in Croatia.

Warriors – British series about UK forces in the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) during the Yugoslav Wars

 

Documentaries

Blue Helmets: A History of United Nations Peacekeeping (1990), Congo old link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtcPSOoGdPc&list=PLzSh3LRfApuqTlQvSG73y-sETWj8GtzwV&index=7

Ghosts of Medak Pocket (2013) – CBC documentary about the battle fought by Canadian peacekeepers in 1993 and the repercusions back home YouTube, later the the CBC reporter Carol Off wrote a book with the same name

Can the UN Keep the Peace? (BIR.ORG, 22:54, YouTube) – realistic but positive view of the UN's Congo mission after the Kiwanja failure 

Mandated to Protect: Protection of Civilians in Peacekeeping Operations, (un.org, YouTube) –

No Man’s Land (2001) – about Serb, Bosniak  and UN soldiers  of ill-will

No Place to Hide (2013) – about sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers and soldiers. Amazon Prime Video

Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire (2004) – documents the return visit to Rwanda of the former commnanding generatl of the UN mission in Rwanda in 1993-94. Full doc: YouTube

Soldiers without Guns. Describes Bougainville island conflict and peace facilitated by unarmed New Zealand peacekeepers, especially a featured female officer, and then Austrlian peacekeepers,  (ignore the overly dramatic music background). Full doc on Vimeo

The Peacekeepers – excellent documentary on the UN struggle to keep peace in Ituri, D.R. Congo. Show dilemmas & tensions for UNHQ, mission HQ and peacekeepers on the ground. Amazon Prime Video . Also National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

UN Peacekeeping Is (YouTube, 2:18) –

UN Peacekeeping: Challenges from the Field Today and Tomorrow (un.org, YouTube, 22:54)  –

UN Peacekeeping Force in East Timor, un.org, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Muji6SrP6vk&list=PLzSh3LRfApuqTlQvSG73y-sETWj8GtzwV&index=6

UN: Last Station Before Hell – fair review of peacekeeping, with examples from Lebanon, Cyprus, D.R. Congo and C.A. Republic, and UN headquarters.  Amazon Prime Video

"What is peacekeeping?” (web, 1:01) – George Clooney’s short video in style of this day

 

Audio books

Peacekeeping – by Mischa Berlinsky (14 hr)
https://www.audible.ca/search?keywords=peacekeeping&ref=a_hp_t1_header_search

Peacekeepers (2019) – by James Rosone and Miranda Watson, fiction, link to any realisitc peacekeeping yet to be determined (audible.ca)

Scorched Earth (2019) – by Tammy Pemper based on actual peacekeeping events in East Timor during the 1999 referendum. (amazon.ca)

 

Simulations and Games

Gaming for Peace -- teaches soft skills for multinational operations like peacekeeping; website with game download

Peacekeeping simulations, including "Investigating Atrocity: UN Military Observers in Naraland", www.peacekeepingsim.net

 

 

Memoirs

Burns, E. L. M., Between Arab and Israeli. Toronto, Canada: Clarke and Irwin; 1962, 336 pp. 

Dallaire, Romeo, Shake Hands with the Devil:The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, Random House Canada, 584.

Danieli, Yael. 2018. Sharing the Front Line and the Back Hills : International Protectors and Providers - Peacekeepers, Humanitarian Aid Workers and the Media in the Midst of Crisis. Boca Raton, FL : Routledge. (short stories from the field)

Davis, James, The Sharp End: A Canadian Soldier's Story, Douglas & McIntyre Ltd, 1997.

Doss, Alan, A Peacekeeper in Africa: Learning from UN Interventions in Other People’s Wars. Lynne Rienner Press, 2020. 

De Domenico , John E. G., Land of a Million Elephants: Memoirs of a Canadian Peacekeeper, 113 pp. [memoirs of service with the International Commission for Supervision and Control in Laos]

Grant, Kurt. All Tigers, No Donkeys: A Citizen Soldier in Croatia, 1994-1995. St. Catherines, ON: Vanwell, 2005. [diaries from reservist in UNPROFOR/Croatia, 1994-1995.]

Guéhenno, Jean-Marie. The fog of peace: a memoir of international peacekeeping in the 21st century. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2015.

MacKenzie, Lewis. Peacekeeper: the Road to Sarajevo. Toronto, Canada: Harper Collins Pub.; 1994. xx, 546 pp.

Maure, Ben J. S., Leading at the Edge: True Tales from Canadian Police in Peacebuilding and Peacekeeping Missions Around the World. (Edge of Water Designs, 2020).

Soussan, Micahel, Backstabbing for Beginners: My Crash Course in International Diplomacy, (Nation Books, 2008), about a UN staffer who uncovers massive corruption associated with the UN's Oil for Food program, movie adaptation at 
https://www.primevideo.com/region/na/detail/0J3G67MKPFUQ85MXV2H830T3JZ/ref=atv_sr_fle_c_Tn74RA_1_1_1?sr=1-1&pageTypeIdSource=ASIN&pageTypeId=B0B7G4KRQ3&qid=1705983781614; script: https://www.scripts.com/script-pdf/3425

 

Biographies

Baker, Catherine. “Have You Ever Been in Bosnia? British Military Travelers in the Balkans Since 1992.” Journeys (New York, N. Y.) 12, no. 1 (2011): 63. https://doi.org/10.3167/jys.2011.120104.
interviews by the author with 14 UK military personnel (among 51 interviews for research project on foreign languages and peacekeeping)

Bishop, J. R. (2001). Warrior, peacekeeper, diplomat, spy : the memoirs of Lieutenant Colonel (retd) John R. Bishop . Mossy Knoll Enterprises.

Off, Carol. The Lion, the Fox & the Eagle: A Story of Generals and Justice in Rwanda and Yugoslavia, Random House Canada, 2001, 416 pp.

Power, Samantha, Sergio, (HBO Documentary, YouTube, 2009, 1:34:26; via amazon.com). Movie (2020): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_(2020_film)

 

To Check

Paskal (Malaysian peacekeepers in Horn of Africa, hostage taking of a ship), English subtitles, Netflix