Review of Hotel Rwanda (2004) by Lauri S — 07 Apr 2013

I don't know how to begin to respond to a movie like this, but I will try. This is one of those movies you never forget. I owned this film on DVD for years and didn't watch it. Not because I didn't want to.

Because I knew it would be a hard movie to watch. I was right. But this is a movie everyone should see. It is a historical film about the bravery of a man and those around him in the face of impossible circumstances.

However, what it is also about the value of human life. Not just the mindless slaughter of war and genocide, but also the value of human life to those looking on from outside. The problems of the world seem too big sometimes and we have a way of getting desensitized and shutting down.

We've come to be used to seeing horrific images in our news reports. They do inspire sympathy, but sympathy does not fix the problem. Occasionally some of us get together and try to donate money or supplies to difficult areas of the world.

It can make a difference in the short term, but not the long term. Some devote their lives to the cause of trying to fix these problems. We all lionize those who put themselves into the thick of it when they don't have to and try to make a difference, but they are too few and far between.

Most don't truly believe the ways we currently try to fix these problems are that effective at all. Maybe one day we as people will stop drawing lines between each other. Maybe one day we will focus more on what brings us together than what separates us.

Maybe one day people like me will feel like more than just someone with no money or resources, trying to take care of their own family, who doesn't really believe he can do anything of value for those in need thousands of miles away.

I am a hypocrite. I too feel detached. I focus on what is right near me because its all I feel I can really effect and I feel the strongest responsibility to my family. I wish it were different in certain ways.

I wish the powers and resources of the people of our planet were used to care for those in need of help and to stop violence, rather than moving around lines on a map. I wish we were evolved enough to find a better way to solve problems than murdering each other.

I, like many, wish for many things I hope to see but don't know if I ever will. That's what this film left me with, above all else. A stark reminder of the inherent problems with how we humans see each other.

How we shut our eyes to atrocities and how we need to stop.