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!
Meanwhile, the radio announces the death of the country president allegedly in the terrorist attack of tutsi “cockroaches†and calls for the vengeance.
Coming back home that evening Paul discovers many of the tutsi neighbors hiding in his house at the invitation of his wife, also a tutsi. Reluctantly he decides to take them into the hotel. The massacre had started already and the road to the hotel is very dangerous. At one point the hutu army officer is trying to arrest them, but a bribe from Paul allows the all to make it safely to the hotel. Fearing the unrest the Belgian manager of the hotel leaves the country and all white people also get evacuated, leaving the Rwandans behind. The meager UN contingent in the capital is unable to defend them as their standing orders do not allow them to shoot. Paul realizes that they have to survive on their own. He calls on all refugees in the hotel to reach out to the world, call everyone they know outside the country to tell the world of what is happening in Rwanda.
There is a surreal horrific scene when Paul needs to leave the shelter of the hotel to buy food for all of them from George, one of the hutu militants’ leaders – a merchant by trade, a killer by heart. In the dark yard , filled with the militants brandishing machetes and the raped tutsi women corralled in one of its corners, Paul asks George whether he really thinks they can kill them (tutsis) all. And the other calmly replies “We are half way thereâ€. On the way back the loose their way in the mists and the van begins to lurch. Paul steps out of the van and stumbles on something. He falls down on the pile of bodies. When the mist clears a little we can see the road ahead literally covered with the dead. That was the only time when Paul allowed himself to loosen the grip on his emotions. Coming back to the hotel he attempts to change his bloodied shirt, but his hands are shaking too much and he finally gives in to the raw emotions and starts crying – alone in the room.
Somebody is calling for him and he remembers that people in the hotel depend on him, gathers himself and goes out again to do his difficult job of a protector and caretaker. Eventually, after many brushes with the death the hotel inhabitants are evacuated to a safe place. Paul Rusesabagina has saved lives of over 1200 and this film is a wonderful tribute to his heroism.
Don Cheadle in the role of Paul has provided one of the best performances I’ve seen in the recent years. He was the ultimate reluctant hero – afraid for his life and his family, but still willing to stand up for the innocent victims and do whatever it takes to protect complete strangers, most of whom he never saw before.
There were some snide comments about the UN colonel played by Nick Nolte, when the movie first come out, but I had a different take on this character. I thought Nick Nolte has wonderfully played this character as a good and brave soldier, who is trying to to help protecting the refugees, but he is essenti9ally powerless, a commander without sufficient manpower amidst the rabid mobs, with little authority and saddled with the crippling order “not to shoot under any circumstances†hanging over him.
This is one of those great films where you run a gamut of emotions with your eyes riveted to the screen, but it leaves you with a sort of catharsis in the end and with more hope and faith in good of human nature. I do need to thank the friend who gave me this movie. Merci, Martine!