Review of Hotel Rwanda (2004) by Parker M — 26 Jul 2011

3.5 Stars out of 4.

It started as rioting and slanderous discussion. There were the Hutus and Tutsis, the latter consisting of a minority. Hutus called their opposing class "cockroaches", enraged by their superior wealth and status. When Hutu president Habyarimana was assassinated, all hell broke loose. Hutus filled the streets, replacing protest signs for machetes. As of April 1994, the Rwandan genocide had started and would last 100 days, taking about 800,000 Tutsi lives.

This is the background for Terry George's Hotel Rwanda, a compelling and intelligent drama about one man's, Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), struggle to improvise his way through a genocide and save over a thousand Tutsi lives. He wasn't a Tutsi, but a Hutu so in a way this was not his fight. It's recorded that about 200,000 Hutus precipitated the genocide but Paul was not one of them. He brought aid in the midst of chaos, and performed with uncertainty and inexperience.

He was only a hotelier not a Romeo Dallaire. Paul was never sure of his mission, but it was one that prevailed in the face of murder, extortion and sheer abandonment. There were a few foreign nationals, who I suppose in this film are the "supporting cast." Photographer Jack (Joaquin Phoenix) and medic Pat (Cara Seymour) were once at Paul's service, but as the genocide precipitated they left him reluctantly. Paul's wife Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo) loves him but expects Paul to protect his family, while he shelters about a thousand unknowns. Paul was forced into an impossible task, but he accomplished it like Oskar Schindler.

Who also must be noted is United Nations Colonel Oliver (Nick Nolte), the second hero of Hotel Rwanda who joined with Paul to protect others in exchange for endangering his life. But it's wrong to call Paul and Oliver "heroes" because both characters lacked a hero's self-assurance and stability. Paul and Oliver were self-effaced guardians with confusion in their eyes, swarmed by people seeking their help. They did not know what to do but they did something, and it was worthy.

Hotel Rwanda is not meant to recount the facts of the Rwandan genocide with predictable emotional payoffs. This is not a teaching. This is a very human film about a flawed man who bought time and life with bribes and blackmail, and good luck. Cheadle must be praised for his performance, one that clearly invests so much value into the role. Cheadle's Paul is a hero without a cape, a family man who was compelled to do good where that word started to not exist.

This is not simply a disturbing film, but it is graced with Paul's fierce stoicism. There are no directly brutal scenes, but many moments that pose dilemmas for our characters to avoid such brutality. We see little of the carnage, since director George remains faithful to Paul's point of view, one - as a character said - that was "the oasis in a desert." There is one harrowing moment when Paul drives through a fog that writhes over hundreds of adult and child corpses. It feels like a dream sequence, a revelation of truth where Paul's small yet firm heroic act is undercut by the death and terror that lingers outside of the hotel.

Some would be right in calling Hotel Rwanda a conventional film. It is. But never have I seen such a simple narrative explored so deeply. Paul had to run his hotel, accompany refugees, grease war criminals, and maintain inner strength. Hotel Rwanda doesn't speculate what the genocide has costed the world, as that is for us to grasp. In the film, we hear details of people's thoughts overseas but it was just skepticism at the time. And it did not matter. As Jack the photographer mused: "I think if people see this footage, they'll say Oh, my God, that's horrible. And then they'll go on eating their dinners.".

This is a fascinating film. I wished it had concluded on a less trite note, but - like Paul -greatness is achieved through imperfection. Hotel Rwanda may also lack a more steadfast, honest Hutu perspective but this is about Paul's engaging, complex one. We are informed that Paul saved more than 1,200 Tutsis. Everyone came to Paul for refuge, so perhaps his heroism was not a choice. In a way, "Hotel Rwanda" is a literal title.