"Hotel Rwanda" is an incredibly sad sort of film. After all, during 1994 between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people were murdered--mostly Tutsis hacked to death due to an insane tribal rivalry with the more numerous Hutus. Genocide is not pleasant viewing. However, the film is a bit easier to watch than it could be, as most of the scenes of the slaughter are pretty tame. This isn't really a complaint--it doesn't deny the killings but it also doesn't show a lot of hacked off limbs and bodies (though there are quite a few of the latter). I appreciate how the MPAA changed their minds and re-rated the film PG-13 instead of R, as R would seem to imply that it's not a film for a wide audience. Folks should see this film.
Instead of "Hotel Rwanda" showing the violence in a general fashion, it focuses on a very brave man. Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle) was the man who ran the swank Hotel Rwanda around the time of the genocide. In a very brave move, he opened the hotel to the Tutsi (who were being massacred) and created a tenuous safe haven. However, when the UN pulled out (as the UN did what it usually does in these situations...NOTHING!),Rusesabinga had to learn on the fly to work with the ruling powers, the mobs and the few remaining UN troops (though most had left). Rusesabinga managed to not only save his family (his wife was Tutsi and children half-Tutsi) but 1200 people through his heroics. The film shows the way he connived and begged and worked to make this possible in the midst of Hell.
The film is a high quality and well made product. Not surprisingly it's on the IMDb Top 250 list and it also was nominated for three Oscars (including one for Cheadle who sure sounded African to my untrained ears). And, not surprisingly, it's an awfully tough film to watch. I don't recommend it for very young audiences but folks need to see this film and realize we have not come that far as a world. And, it's sad the film and other films about Rwanda during this period didn't come out until a decade after the massacres. It also makes you realize just how far from its original charter the UN has gone--it SHOULD have been able to take a stand against such evil.
Hotel Rwanda
2004
Action / Biography / Drama / History / War
Plot summary
1994. In Rwanda, the classification of the native population into Hutus and Tutsis, arbitrarily done by the colonial Belgians, is now ingrained within Rwandan mentality despite the Rwandan independence. Despite the Belgians having placed the Tutsis in a higher position during the Belgian rule, they have placed the majority Hutus in power after independence. Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu married to a Tutsi, Tatiana Rusesabagina, is the House Manager of the Hotel Des Milles Collines in Kigali. The Milles Collines, owned by Sabena (the national airline of Belgium),is a four-star hotel catering primarily to wealthy white westerners. Paul, who knows how to work the system to run the hotel effectively for its guests and for Sabena, is proud that most of the Caucasians who he meets in this professional capacity treat him with respect. After a specific incident, the relative calm between the Tutsi guerrillas and government-backed Hutu militia takes a turn. Paul's thought that the native population as a whole who are not directly involved in the conflict will be protected as the UN peacekeeping forces and thus the world is watching doesn't happen as the western world largely evacuates from Rwanda and abandons the natives. Such begins what will become a genocide of the Tutsi population. Paul, who is able to get his immediate family to the hotel which is still largely seen as a place of sanctuary, will have to use the considerable skills he has used to run the hotel as well as he has instead to keep himself, his family and any others taking refuge at the hotel alive, whether they be Hutu or Tutsi. Meanwhile, Colonel Oliver, a Canadian heading the UN peacekeeping forces, and Pat Archer with the Red Cross do what they can to assist Paul and to get people to safety first to the hotel then out of the country, while field journalists, like photographer Jack Daglish, try to bring the genocide back into the global media to have the world once again care about what is going on.
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Not surprisingly, you'll need to have some Kleenex nearby as you watch this film.
Powerful, gut-wrenching and compelling
Hotel Rwanda was one of those films I initially put off seeing for reasons I don't really know, but after seeing it that decision is one of those decisions that I've regretted as it turned out to be one of the better films I've seen in a while now. Hotel Rwanda is beautifully shot and the scenery is striking while still being authentic without being too clean. The story is always compelling and powerful, with plenty of gut-wrenching and poignant moments while never feeling preachy. The film is excellently directed and scripted too, while Sophie Okonedo, Joaquin Pheonix and particularly Don Cheadle give superb acting performances. Overall, a truly fantastic film. 10/10 Bethany Cox
sincere history telling
It's 1994 Kigali. Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle) is a hotel manager who knows the right people and gets things done. He's Hutu but is apolitical. He sees signs of upheaval. His wife Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo) is Tutsi but he expects his connections to pull his family through. Canadian Colonel Oliver (Nick Nolte) from the UN is at the hotel touting the new peace agreement. Reporter David (David O'Hara) and cameraman Jack Daglish (Joaquin Phoenix) arrive to cover the story. When the massacres start, his home and then his hotel are inundated with refugees.
This is a sincere telling of a harrowing historical story. Don Cheadle delivers a sincere performance. It's all very sincere. There is an inevitability to the story. It is a bit heavy-handed but the history demands some heavy-handedness. However, the lines coming out of Colonel Oliver is too much. There are a couple of instances of overly sincere lines when the simple images are more than enough. I'm almost glad that the white people left the hotel. The movie points the camera at one horrifying scene after another.