Hotel Rwanda [2004]
Director: Terry George
Actor: Don Cheadle, Nick Nolte
For anyone not fully informed about what happened in Rwanda in 1994, I urge you to read this website, which is a pretty comprehensive coverage, viewed from multiple sides of the issue, compiled by the BBC. I suggest reading it, for it’s the backdrop of Hotel Rwanda, a true story about Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager of one of the finest hotels in Kigali, the capitol of Rwanda.
Paul’s job as manager of this luxury hotel afforded him the opportunity to consort with a lot of influential people in Rwanda; army staff and soldiers, politicians, both foreign and domestic dignitaries, and businessmen and women. He is a Hutu, while his wife, and therefore also his children are Tutsi’s.
For those who haven’t taken the time to look at the link I put up in the previous paragraph, in short, when the Belgians colonised Rwanda they took favour to those Rwandese that were of slimmer and taller build, had fairer skin and more European features. They called them Tutsi’s and they called the rest Hutu’s. The Hutu’s were in the majority, but the Tutsi’s held the favour of the colonial masters. Sadly, when the Belgians returned sovereignty to Rwanda, they put the Hutu’s in charge. It took a while, but resentment finally built to the point where the Hutu’s massacred 800.000 Tutsi’s in the span of days. All the while, the UN stood by and couldn’t do anything, like a toothless dog.
Paul decided, in a Shindler’s List sort of way, to provide shelter to Tutsi refugees at his luxury hotel, long since abandoned by tourists and western guests, using his connections to keep the resort safe from attack.
In my opinion, this film follows the same line as Black Hawk Down, Tears of the Sun, The Killing Fields and many other devastatingly shocking films, and are a necessity for Western education. We need to understand what happens in Africa, and in most cases, we need to understand what Western colonialism has brought about, and the damage it did, and still does nowadays.
