Hotel Rwanda
Directed by Terry George, starring Don Cheadle, Nick Nolte
3 Oscar nominations
I would never have seen this movie if not for a friend who gave it to me. The subject of Rwanda genocide was featuring enough on TV news to give me an idea that viewing it might be difficult. It was indeed very painful to watch at times, but only because it’s one of the greatest tragic films I’ve seen in the recent years. It really brings out to light the horror of the massacre that was happening in Rwanda in 1994 in the form of the high tragedy.
The film was based on a true story and it starts just a day before the beginning of the massacre and the air is already thick with hatred and anxiety. Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), the assistant manager in the Hotel Des Milles Collines insists that the situation is not that serious, but the hateful speeches on the radio constantly poison the air. The population of Rwanda was divided by the Belgian colonists into two ethnic groups – hutu and tutsi. During the colonial rule the tutsi were in power, but when Rwanda has become independent the formerly oppressed hutu seized their chance to remove tutsi from power. This was the root of the conflict, but few people could envision the staggering number of its victims – over 800,000 people killed in a very short period of time!
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The Pirates of Caribbean: The Dead Man’s Chest
A long anticipated sequel to one of my favorite movies, which turned into a big disappointment for me.
It was so promising in the beginning – Elizabeth and Will are about to get married (though the pouring rain should have clued me in that the wedding might not be in the making for them). Lo and behold, Will is arrested by the new governor of the island, Elizabeth’s father is demoted and to get back to the wedding Will has to go find Jack Sparrow, the owner of the compass needed by the new governor. Elizabeth follows his trail through the Caribbean islands. From here on the plot is getting so muddled that at a certain point towards the middle of the movie the viewer is at risk to lose all the interest. There are some moments of fun, like the one with Jack as a king of the local tribe on the remote island and his crew their prisoners. Their escape from a certain danger of being eaten by the tribe was indeed rather hilarious.
But the more we delve into the storyline of Davie Jones, his ship and his chest, the more weird and murky the plot becomes. Not to mention the fact that the number of faces decorated with shells, clams and squids is increasing by the minute, which was a big turn-off for me. Another thing that really made me angry was an open end. These jokers have already paved the way to yet another sequel, even though they’ve botched this one! By the end of it only Caribbean landscapes were warming my heart. Even Jack Sparrow somewhat lost his appeal. And what’s the story between him and Elizabeth?! The saddest part is that I will go to see the sequel anyway, hoping that it will come out better than this one….
The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock
‘Tippi†Hedren, Rod Taylor
“Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds†is one of Hitchcock’s famous movies that I’ve never seen before. Something always came up and, although I did have a couple of opportunities to see the movie in the past, I never did. I did read the book, though, a very long time ago – so long ago that I honestly don’t remember the book in details, but I liked very much the suspense and the growing sense of the foreboding that I’ve experienced while reading the book. Unfortunately, I’ve realized after finally watching the movie after so many years of waiting, that it did not quite live up to my expectations…
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