Hotel Rwanda

I was fortunate to see it at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Hotel Rwanda starred Don Cheadle and was directed by Terry George. It's based on a true event, about Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu who worked at four star hotel in Kigali. When the war broke out he thought of only saving his immediate family but as he saw what was happening he opened the hotel to Tutsi and Hutus seeking refuge from the killing. He used all the favours he had stored as manager of the hotel and basically saved over a thousand lives. This will be the next Schindler's list. When the film was over, there was a standing ovation. Don Cheadle was excellent as an ordinary man forced to do extra-ordinary things. Paul Rusesabagina and his family attended the screening and he received a five minute standing ovation. Even Michael Moore came to see this movie. I highly recommend it. 9/10.

I have no doubt that this is the only movie for the past year that can get me totally, if not 101%, emotionally involved. For other movies, I might be interacting with the story a lot , say associating my personal experiences with the characters, making judgment on them, criticizing the development of the story, ways of expression, the cinematography, acting, etc. BUT, Hotel Rwanda simply took me over as I was watching it. My emotion was going along with Paul ( Don Cheadle) all the time. The director did a great great job in capturing the feelings of people facing uncertainty, horror, ridicules, anger, death, waning faith... Family, life and dignity/integrity become the largest things in the situation. What's more is that it squarely shows the realist thinking in international politics.It honestly shows the weakness or helplessness of the UN and the non-governmental organizations. It truthfully tells how indifferent most of the international community (or individuals, which may or may not include you and me) are towards the deprivation of social justice taking place in other parts of the world. It makes you question to what extent that it is true to say what we see ( the sufferings in the world) is what we tolerate. It shows you how monstrous human being can be. It scares you how sanity would fail. At the same time, the uglier the people become, the more beautiful you find those who have managed to keep brave and maintain humanity. The movie fully succeeds in showing me the spirit, faith, and compassion that the world is dreaming for.

The only comment I can give about this movie is - SEE IT. It's one of the most heart wrenching, yet beautiful movies I've ever seen. I really hope Don Cheadle and the movie receive Oscars! The acting is superb and the fact this is based upon a true story only makes it better. You may need some Kleenex as I was overwhelmed for a large part of this movie.

I had the honor of seeing this movie at a preview screening with the real "Paul" and his wife attending - what an absolute amazing experience to be in their presence. This movie will make you rethink everything about what it means to be human and how much we need to think about all our neighbours in this world.

Don't miss it!

At one point in "Hotel Rwanda," our hero Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle) asks an American TV reporter (Joaquin Phoenix) how the western world could not intervene after seeing scenes of women and children being hacked by machete-wielding Hutu militia.

How could they not, indeed! As we all know, the west didn't intervene. Not surprising, really. After all, this was Africa and Rwanda had no oil reserves. The people being killed were innocent men, women and children, but they were poor and black.

A few years ago, former President Bill Clinton apologized to Rwandans for not intervening during the 100-day massacre that saw about one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus slaughtered in the most barbaric manner. It was gracious of Clinton, but a fat lot of good his apology did to the people who were killed and their families.

The Rwandan genocide - that's what it was, though western leaders split hairs over the meaning of genocide – also was a black mark on western nations, which simply got their citizens out of Rwanda and then remained indifferent to the senseless killings.

Terry George's film gives us one story about the Rwandan genocide, of one hero, Paul, a savvy, clever and cunning manager of a swank, four-star Belgian hotel in the capital, Kigali. When the massacres began, Paul, a Hutu, sheltered more than 1,200 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the hotel and saved them from the wrath of the bloodthirsty mobs.

Working from a smart script by Keir Pearson and George, "Hotel Rwanda" contains gutwrenching and emotionally trying moments not seen on the big screen since "Schindler's List" (1993). But whereas Spielberg's masterpiece was more arty and artistic - and I don't mean that pejoratively - George's film seems more immediate. Maybe it's because we now see a similar slaughter of poor, downtrodden people in the Darfur region of Sudan and, again, western nations aren't doing much other than threatening to rap the knuckles of the bad guys like angry teachers. This crisis gives "Hotel Rwanda" a sense of urgency.

As visceral as this film is at times, George handles everything in muted fashion. We never see the horrors firsthand. There's brief news footage of people being killed and one particularly searing scene when Paul and his bellhop Gregoire (Tony Kgoroge) find themselves on a bumpy road. The moment's made more horrifying because George unveils it quite matter-of-factly.

Making a PG-13 film about genocide requires numerous compromises. Putting most, if not all, of the violence off-camera is one such bargain George made. True, a closer look at the massacre would have rightly tortured us. But the film, nevertheless, works without gruesome moments. Pearson and George set out to make a story of heroism, survival, love and compassion amid the madness. And they succeeded.

Cheadle carries the entire film. There isn't a false note in his performance. For years, he's turned in one superb performance after another. He's one of those actors who never hits it wrong and whose performances always stand out even if the films themselves aren't all that memorable. Here, he's in equal measure the smooth manager, man with a conscience and frightened husband and father. You can sense Paul's frustration, though Cheadle rarely displays any vulnerability.

He gets great support from Sophie Okonedo as Paul's Tutsi wife, Tatiana, and Nick Nolte doing his best work in years as a Canadian United Nations officer, Colonel Oliver. Okonedo and Cheadle are utterly believable as a couple. They have one traumatic scene on the hotel roof, a quietly powerful moment that tugs at our heartstrings as we watch two people who love each other try to deal with what could happen. Okonedo conveys anger, fear and pain without ever turning the moment sentimental or needlessly overwrought. That's why the moment's shattering.

"Hotel Rwanda" isn't flawless. George doesn't harshly indict the west for its indifference. Also, some scenes, especially one near the film's end, seem staged for obvious dramatic effect, to play with our sense of sympathy and dread. But minor faults can easily be forgiven because the rest of the film works so well, never sensationalizing any moment. The film's straightforward approach gives it more power, makes it more trenchant and meaningful.

I would like to believe that we learn from history and the more powerful western nations will always come to the aid of oppressed people everywhere. But we're doing little in Darfur and although President George W. Bush openly touts his vision to spread liberty and democracy to oppressed peoples everywhere, I doubt he actually means it. After all, this freedom doctrine was something he created only after his initial justification for waging an unjust war - Iraq's supposed stockpiles of WMD - proved to be wholly without merit or fact. I doubt he actually considers bringing liberty to places like Zimbabwe or Burma. He speaks of the need for people to be free, conveniently ignoring some dictatorial nations - Pakistan and Turkmenistan, for instance - because they happen to be our allies. And so the dumb foreign policy continues.

I can only hope the success of "Hotel Rwanda" will prompt other gutsy screenwriters and filmmakers to tell us more stories about the horrors that took place and the complacency of industrialized nations that could have helped and chose not to.

I have never been so touched by a movie. It was the hardest movie I have ever sat through but also the best. it's so easy to ignore human rights abuses if they are not happening to you or your family, but just because you ignore it, they are still happening. i hope this movie receives the praise it deserves. i am frustrated because nothing i can type can represent how powerful this movie is or how much it moved me. i can't comment on the amazing acting or cinematography or directing because the movie transported me. i did not think about the making of the movie but rather sat shocked and horrified and nauseated and inspired. there was the red cross agent. there were heroes and while human nature perverts and the thin veil of culture unravels, there is still good. i have to look at the good of the heroes in the movie and of the people that wrote the movie, and realize that going to the movies doesn't have to be about escapism. it can be about reality. this is a must-see, not because it will make you laugh but because it will make you think and feel.