Hotel Rwanda

“The goal of the film is not only to engage audiences in this story of genocide but also to inspire them to help redress the terrible devastation.” -Director Terry George

April 1994. Kigali, Rwanda. Tensions are high, because the Rwandan president has just been assassinated by Tutsi soldiers. A genocide is stirring.

Meanwhile at des Mille Collines hotel, manager Paul Rusesabagina checks on his powerful and influential guests. He presents them with the very best food and drinks, while outside of the hotel walls hatred and blame are growing, multiplying, and taking over the Hutu extremist population.

Using his money and knowledge of people in high places, Paul housed over a thousand Tutsi and Hutu refugees in the hotel while the genocide occurred. With the help of the UN, the people he housed got out of the country safely and he fled to Belgium with his family.

Hotel Rwanda, even though it is an excellent movie with very experienced actors and a large budget, is still a Hollywood movie at its core. The storyline is easily accessible by a wide audience, it focuses on one person in a supremely anomalous situation while not focusing as much on the atrocities that outnumbered the one story of a few lives being saved. We see the atrocious acts of genocide being committed, but then we retreat back to the safety of the hotel, a haven in a dangerous world. The scenes are a temporary unhappiness, a tear in the fabric of our artfully crafted reality, affecting us as deeply as the genocide affected the people around the world while it was occurring.

That being said, Paul Rusesabagina showed a tremendous amount of power and courage in this retelling. He faced the tormentors of his wife's people calmly and rationalized with them. He always displayed a collected and respectful manner, no matter what the situation was like. He also had massive amounts of influence, even over soldiers who used brute force and the threat of guns to get their way. For example, Paul was once woken up at the hotel by a pistol that was nudging his face. He responded in a manner that did not convey how frightened he was internally for his wife and children. Paul calmly offered them a drink downstairs and took time to make himself look presentable, despite the dire situation.

With the exception of one actor (Nick Nolte), I believed that the acting in this movie was excellent. The intensity of the fear and confusion that Tatiana Rusesabagina portrayed and the calm and collected protagonist balanced each other excellently. Paul was a normal person put into a very demanding situation, and this powerful, commanding character blossomed. The journalist and his cameraman also brought a lot of emotions to the film that the viewers can relate to, because they felt shameful and powerless as the powers that be determined they could not help this destitute country.

Overall, Hotel Rwanda is a moving story about how one person can effect change and save many lives in the face of grave danger. However, it focuses much more on Paul Rusesabagina's journey to save the lives of his family, and eventually thousands more people who would otherwise have been killed. The major criticism of this film is that it did not focus enough on the actual genocide. This film was made to appeal to the masses, and once I watch Shake Hands With the Devil, it is possible that I will favour something toned down and more positive.