Hotel Rwanda (2004)

 

 

 

 

Hotel Rwanda

 

 

 

Holding a Moral Center as Civilization Fell

 

Frank Connor/United Artists

Don Cheadle stars in "Hotel Rwanda" as a righteous hotel manager

during the 1994 campaign of genocide.

 

By STEPHEN HOLDEN

Published: December 22, 2004

 

 

arly in "Hotel Rwanda," a cynical television journalist (Joaquin Phoenix), who has just videotaped a massacre a few blocks from his hotel, shows the damning video to the hotel's worried manager, Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle). Paul becomes elated. He is certain that these images, when televised abroad, will force the West to intervene in the ethnic strife consuming his country.

 

But the reporter knows better. "If people see this footage," he growls, "they'll say, 'Oh my God, that's terrible,' and they'll go on eating their dinners." Ten years after the fact, those remarks come as a stinging slap in the face, for he was right.

 

"Hotel Rwanda," which opens today in New York and Los Angeles, is a political thriller based on fact that hammers every button on the emotional console. At the very least, this wrenching film performs the valuable service of lending a human face to an upheaval so savage it seemed beyond the realm of imagination when news of it filtered into the West.

 

The movie certainly isn't the first screen depiction of a nation consumed in ethnic strife. But its vision of the slaughter of 800,000 Tutsis by the ruling Hutu tribe in Rwanda during a 100-day bloodbath in 1994 offers a devastating picture of media-driven mass murder left unchecked.

 

In the film's opening moments, an announcer on Hutu Power Radio sneeringly urges the squashing of the "Tutsi cockroaches." The wave of delirious butchery that follows begins when the words "Cut down the tall trees" are broadcast as a signal for the killing to begin.

 

The feverish euphoria of the Rwandan violence is strikingly different from Nazi Germany's cold-blooded prosecution of its Final Solution. The savagery is carried out in a spirit of mad jubilation. Military trucks packed with cheering, machete-waving soldiers of the Interahamwe (the Hutu militia) barrel through the streets of Kigali, the Rwandan capital. The murderous orgy suggests a rampaging mob celebrating a soccer triumph.

 

"Hotel Rwanda" radically downplays the actual gore, which is observed either through a fog or from a distance. Bodies are strewn everywhere, but the streets don't run with blood, and no hideous mutilation is shown. Even the beatings seem tentative. Still, the movie does its job. You are left with the uncomfortable suspicion that if the conditions for such a perfect storm of hatred were right, a similar catastrophe could boil up almost anywhere.

 

Observing the killing, first in disbelief, then in anguish, Paul, the stubbornly humane manager of the Mille Collines, the Belgian-owned luxury hotel in Kigali, is the movie's designated hero and moral grounding wire. The movie is based on the real-life experiences of this polished, soft-spoken Hutu who, with his Tutsi wife, Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo), and children, narrowly escapes death several times. Mr. Rusesabagina was directly responsible for saving the lives of more than 1,200 Tutsis and Hutu moderates by sheltering them in the hotel and bribing the Hutu military to spare them.

 

In Mr. Cheadle's magnificent, understated portrayal, Mr. Rusesabagina is a watchful man who understands the workings of power. But it takes the bottom falling out of civilization to force him to recognize evil. A charming wheeler-dealer adept at trading favors, Paul thinks fast on his feet. Accustomed to plying the military brass with single-malt Scotch and Cuban cigars, he is well connected and popular. But that popularity only lasts a long as his supply of Scotch holds out.

 

The kernel of the film's outrage explodes in a bitter monologue by Colonel Oliver (Nick Nolte), a gruff United Nations soldier. Frustrated by orders that he and his small peacekeeping force not intervene, this fiery editorial, spat out by Mr. Nolte with venomous sarcasm, ultimately blames racism for Western indifference to the Rwandan nightmare.

Because "Hotel Rwanda" has a lot of background to cover, much of the dialogue consists of sound bites that sketch a cursory history. Belgium is blamed for sowing the seeds of strife by having favored and empowered the Tutsi minority. France is named as the Hutus' chief supplier of arms. And when confronted with the crisis, a State Department official, heard over the radio, backs away from addressing it by quibbling over the use of the word genocide.

 

The personal experience of the Rusesabagina family is played for maximum suspense and tear-drenched drama. In one scene, Paul, at the last second, decides to remain at the hotel while his wife and children are transported to safety in a United Nations convoy. Minutes later that convoy is raided by the Interahamwe.

 

The screenplay can't resist underlining the obvious when Tatiana tells her husband he is "a good man." one subplot involves the plight of Tutsi orphans who appear just before a rescue plane is about to take off and find themselves left behind in the rain.

 

The movie's sentimental excesses are forgivable, given the subject matter. But even as they trigger your tear ducts, you wonder if your emotional buttons have pushed been too hard and too often just to squeeze out an extra drop of sympathy.

 

 

The movie is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned) for scenes of violence and mild gore.

 

 

'Hotel Rwanda'

 

Directed by Terry George; written by Keir Pearson and Mr. George, in consultation with Paul Rusesabagina; director of photography, Robert Fraisse; edited by Naomi Geraghty; music by Andrea Guerra, Rupert Gregson-Williams and Afro Celt Sound System; production designers, Tony Burrough and Johnny Breedt; produced by A. Kitman Ho and Mr. George; released by United Artists. Running time: 121 minutes. This film is rated PG-13.

WITH: Don Cheadle (Paul), Sophie Okonedo (Tatiana), Joaquin Phoenix (Jack) and Nick Nolte (Colonel Oliver).

 

 

http://movies2.nytimes.com/2004/12/22/movies/22hote.html?ex=1141102800&en=0346874142ed2a27&ei=5070

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.apple.com/trailers/mgm/hotel_rwanda/

 

 

 

 

Ten years ago, as the country of Rwanda descended into madness, one man made a promise to protect the family he loved--and ended up finding the courage to save over 1200 people. Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager in Rwanda, secretly used his position and intelligence to shelter over a thousand refugees during the genocide crisis. While the rest of the world closed its eyes, Paul opened his heart to prove that the human spirit can make us stronger than we’d ever imagine.

Production Status:	Released
Genres:	Drama, Kids/Family and Politics/Religion
Running Time:	2 hrs. 1 min.
Release Date:	December 22nd, 2004 (NY/LA)
MPAA Rating:	PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and brief strong language.
Distributors:	United Artists Films
Production Co.:	Endgame Entertainment, Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, Inside Track, Mikado Film, Miracle Pictures, Seamus
Studios:	Lions Gate Films, MGM Pictures, United Artists Films
U.S. Box Office:	$23,472,900
Filming Locations:	United States South Africa
Produced in:	United Kingdom

 

 

http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1808592826

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.apple.com/trailers/mgm/hotel_rwanda/