Hotel Rwanda (2004)

DVD, Somerville, MA

March 25, 2007

**** / ****

In 1994, sparked by the assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana, civil war, mass exodus, and genocide tore apart the tiny yet densely populated African country of Rwanda. With a false truce between rival ethnic and political factions the Hutu and Tutsi shattered, and the systemic slaughter of as many as 800,000 civilian Tutsi passing in the blink of an eye, it was an event under the radar of international intervention. Even the United Nations, who had installed a small lassie-faire peacekeeping unit in the region, failed to recognize the situation’s horror and devastation until it was too late. It is a catastrophe whose details are easy to ignore, that is, until you hear them for yourself; then they are impossible to forget.

Hotel Rwanda begins with President Habyarimana’s assassination by what appears to be Tutsi rebels. In immediate retaliation, and spurred by government programmed propaganda radio, Rwanda’s militia and Hutu civilians begin a systemic slaughter of all Tutsi in the country. Hutu hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), a black man working his way up the white man’s corporate ladder, is in the middle of the struggle. At first merely following orders to evacuate guests of his Hotel des Diplomates, an upscale hotel owned by white Belgians and catering to wealthy white people, he quickly finds himself harboring 1,000 targeted Tutsi. Using skills mastered as a hospitality industry professional, he bribes, begs, deceives, and barely manages to keep his “guests,” his family and himself alive. How Paul manages the hotel as an oasis amid the turbulent seas of civil war is nothing short of amazing.

The film, itself, is an extremely engrossing and effective portrayal of the insane world of Rwanda 1994. The movie is at once confusing and enlightening just as it must have felt to Paul and everyone caught amidst the horror and tragedy. The way director Terry George slowly reveals the extent of what is happening around the hotel, like a puzzle whose pieces we may never fully obtain, keeps us guessing throughout. Yet through all the confusion and plot twists nothing is unbelievable or contrived, shocking considering how personal and political the story.

Mirroring Schindler’s List in how it shows a world within a world and the compassion of one man amongst a major catastrophe, Rwanda stretches out of Schindler’s shadow by removing the Hollywood aspect in its storytelling. This is a movie very much outside the system. Viewing Rwanda I never felt trapped amongst plot points and melodrama, a common downfall in even the best movies. Not once did I question the politicizing of the situation, another trap that often handcuffs movies of this ilk. And never could a better actor have been found for the lead role than Don Cheadle. He deserved to win 2004’s Best Actor Academy Award.

There is a grave danger in equating ethnicity with politics. Hotel Rwanda shows us the worst reasons why. Never preachy, chock full of information, and expertly crafted, Hotel Rwanda is a masterpiece.