Is Trees of Peace woke?

Woke messaging is very prominent and often feels forced or shoehorned in. Characters and plot are primarily shaped to serve the ideology. Many viewers feel the agenda overshadows the entertainment.

Wokeness Analysis

Trees of Peace centers on four women of diverse ethnic, religious, and national backgrounds who overcome prejudice to form a sisterhood while hiding during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The narrative deliberately highlights female resilience, unity across divides, and post-genocide female leadership in Rwanda, with closing text emphasizing women’s role in national healing and their record-high government representation. The director, a Black woman, frames the story through a female perspective, including an American character to bridge Western audiences. Ethnic tensions serve primarily as a backdrop for interpersonal growth and empowerment themes rather than deep historical analysis. The film prioritizes messages of forgiveness, reconciliation led by women, and female solidarity, often at the expense of broader context or male perspectives. This structure positions the plot to advance progressive ideals of intersectional unity, gender empowerment, and anti-division messaging, making the ideology prominent and intentional.

Plot

In 1994 during the Rwandan genocide, four women from different backgrounds—a pregnant moderate Hutu, two Tutsi women including a nun, and an American volunteer—hide in a cramped underground cellar for 81 days. As they face starvation, fear, and internal conflicts rooted in ethnic tensions, they gradually build trust and form a profound bond of sisterhood. The story, inspired by real survivor accounts but fictionalized, explores their survival and personal transformations amid the violence outside. It concludes with notes on how women survivors led Rwanda’s healing and forgiveness efforts, resulting in the highest percentage of women in government worldwide.