Review of Hotel Rwanda (2004) by Asif K — 13 Nov 2013

Hotel Rwanda is the one depiction of the Rwandan genocide that I've found to be the most gripping and to be the best of such films so far. The story is about the Hutu genocide of the Tutsi population seen through the eyes of Paul Rusesabagina, hotel manager of hotel Milles Collines, which for a short period of time became a refugee camp for Tutsi refugees. Paul himself is Hutu, but his wife is Tutsi and he is, therefore, forced to use all his connections and saved up favors to save his family and friends from an attempt to exterminate the entire Tutsi population.

This independent film quite vividly brings to life one of the biggest tragedies of the 90s and even educates about the origin of the hate in Rwanda that dates back to the Belgian colonisation. A very emotional film about one of the saddest chapters of history and the fact that it happened less than 20 years ago is terrifying to say the least. The film has a lot of characters to care about and very convincing performances from Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Nick Nolte, Fana Mokoena and Hakeem Kae-Kazim, especially impressive is Don Cheadle who rises to deliver his best performance so far.