Hotel Rwanda | Review

George’s history lesson is ultimate survivor’s tale.

Coincidentally released as the world is experiencing another human tragedy, its interesting to measure the world’s reaction to drowned vacationing tourists and other Tsunami victims versus the kind of horrific events that are represented in Hotel Rwanda. More dangerous than fashionable generosity – is a complete lack of empathy, filmmaker Terry George’s rendered dramatization of the Rwandan genocide certainly demonstrates how the Western world selects their goodwill causes and interventions. Interestingly enough, it’s the efforts of one outnumbered, under-resourced strong-minded individual that demonstrates the kind of miraculous interventions that can occur when one decides to wear their thinking-cap.

From tyrant military goons to orphaned children – what made Paul Rusesabagina such a good hotel manager is that he knew how to service the needs of all his customers, but this is not about a man who knew a thing or two about excellent customer service, but instead about an unsung hero who understood how to use his wits, his bribes and a some aged whiskey against a machete menace. Much like Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, this is the story of how one man literally saved hundreds of people from certain death – this is actor Don Cheadle’s (Manic) Oscar-nom worthy stroke of genius tour-de-force performance – not only does he carry the entire weight of the picture, but he manages to make his character not come off as the familiar man-in-cape savior. With a particular audience in mind, the picture includes some moments of romanticism and tension-breaking comic moments and could have benefited more from a docu-realism text, – but Georges’ handling of the story is commendable because it showcases humanity in the most extreme inhuman case. Nick Nolte’s (Clean) take on a powerless UN officer Colonel Oliver meagerly describes the p.o.v of a high ranking, helpless man with his hands tied.

Backed by a powerful screenplay, George limits the most gruesome acts of violence – the violence is discussed and introduced but true horrors are kept away from sight; one sequence where Paul discovers a road-filled with bodies only concentrates on Cheadle’s dialogue and the camera doesn’t do any unnecessary tilting of the camera which reminds of the famous scene in The Killing Fields where the camera takes time to realize what the protagonist was walking on. Hotel Rwanda sticks to the telling of the story – through the eyes of this brave man – a sense of urgency and slow-thinking personal reflection is developed in this character. George primes this one for a mature audience in mind, – aiming for the heart with the film’s concentration on Paul’s family, unfortunately the film is not critical enough. The film could have easily spent too much time condemning the Hutu’s actions and make this a film about “bad” guys, which, thankfully it doesn’t do – instead where the film could have really succeeded is in condemning the actions of the world.

Rating 3.5 stars