The Day The Earth Stood Still (Hotel Rwanda (DVD))

Member Name: marandina

Product:	Hotel Rwanda (DVD)
Date:	02/05/06 (417 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good adaptation of events, super lead

Disadvantages: Looks and feels like a documentary

In the grand scheme of things, perhaps the most heinous crime of all is genocide. History is littered with attempts at ethnic cleaning, none more notorious than The Holocaust during World War 2. Crimes against a whole race are enough to leave a shiver down the longest of spines and more recent events in the country of Yugoslavia that was, should remind us that the possibility of murder on the biggest of scales is as present as it ever was. In terms of the big screen response to this then “Schinder’s List” would be the best known of movies that confront the issue and the more recent “Hotel Rwanda” tells a similar tale from events in the African continent.

The facts are that between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days. Sparked by the traditional rivalry between the ethnic groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis, following the death of Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana (who was a Hutu), the country descended into a violent civil war during which thousands of mainly Tutsis were slaughtered. The movie tells the story of one man’s attempt to stem the bloodshed in the only way that he could and is based on true events.

Paul Rusesabagina is the manager of a hotel owned by a Belgian Corporation. With a loving wife and young family, Paul is well respected throughout the local community. When the fabric of society breaks down all around him, he finds himself in the middle of chaos, waking one morning with a gun to his head and told to evacuate his house by Hutu armed militia. Bribing the head of the soldiers to buy the lives of his friends and family (who the militia clearly intends to shoot), Paul drives them into town to the hotel he is the manager of. Seemingly under the protection of the UN Peace Keeping Force led by Colonel Oliver (Nick Nolte), what follows is a harrowing struggle to stay alive as the rest of the world looks on and does nothing to help.

To say that this is a remarkable film would be an understatement. Whilst it’s not on the epic scale of the Spielbergian “Schindler’s List” the understated nature of “Hotel Rwanda” adds to the authenticity of the screenplay. Don Cheadle is terrific in the lead role. Glowing with dignity from the first reel to the last, the audience can’t help but empathise with this man who continues to defy the most incredible of odds. That he manages to house up to 1000 Tutsis (Paul is a Hutu) in the hotel is remarkable in itself whilst continuing to negotiate and bribe the local forces to leave them alone and Cheadle’s depiction is about as good as you could want from such a significant part. His interaction with key characters like the insidious General Bizimungu (Fana Mokoena) and other antagonists bent on murdering his countryman transcends the possibility of any acting misfire with Cheadle thoroughly convincing as the intelligent, articulate saviour. The closeness of his immediate family is well defined although guilty of melodrama at times especially when he suggests that his wife should jump from the roof of the hotel, taking the children with her rather than be cornered and hacked to death by machete.

Borrowing from a similar theme in “The Killing Fields”, Joaquin Phoenix plays Jack Daglish, a reporter caught up in the middle of the violence keen to show the world the horrors unfolding in the country. When UN soldiers are murdered and the decision is taken to withdraw all foreign nationals leaving the Tutsi at the mercy of the Hutu soldiers, Daglish’s guilt is compounded by the late arrival of a catholic priest carrying a cargo of vulnerable children he wants evacuated. The scenes that unfold as white, European children are separated from black, Tutsi children are every bit as upsetting as a Red Cross aide's description of the butchering of all Tutsi children in an orphanage. It’s hard not to feel incredibly moved by the horror of the impromptu sectarianism of the situation and it’s a lasting image that stays with the viewer well after the movie has concluded.

Nolte plays second fiddle to the dominant Cheadle for the most part and his angst-ridden role is nicely understated based, as it was, on the Canadian Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire. At one point, Nolte confides in Paul that nobody cares in the outside world and that as an African “You're black. You're not even a nigger. You're an African.” It’s powerful, potent stuff that could offend but sits adroitly with Keir Pearson’s joint script, co-written with Terry George. Nolte’s anger and disgust with the response from the rest of the world is neatly drawn, none more so than when he posts guards at the hotel only to tell Paul that they have orders not to shoot.

Director Terry George uses the insanity so prevalent at the time sparingly, thus stopping the picture from slipping into horror territory. One notable scene where Paul and his hotel aide, Gregoire (Tony Kgoroge) are driving supplies back to the hotel in fog illustrates the delicate way that George shows us the scale of the atrocities as the car bumps over lots of dead bodies strewn along the road. Paul only realises this when he gets out of the van to see why the road is so bumpy and as the mist lifts, he sees bodies piled upon bodies revealing the abject horror of the situation as a whole. By using the infamous radio broadcasts from the time, the audience is kept abreast of political developments as well as being made patently aware of the hatred spewing over the airways to mobilise the Interahamwe who committed many of the atrocities.

On the down side, the movie was produced as a collaboration and the result is a documentary feel to the way the movie was shot which kinda takes the gloss off the more usual Hollywood sheen that we got with “Schindler’s List”. With so many extras and shot on location in Rwanda and South Africa, the external camera work makes the production look low budget at times although enhancing the authenticity of the piece driving the realism especially with the shots of people trying to escape in trucks in the latter stages of the film.

“Hotel Rwanda” is one of the most powerful films I’ve seen in a while. For those that want to reflect on a barbarous instalment of recent history then it’s very well done. The movie is a serious account of what went on and is not for the faint hearted. Personally, I think we should all watch this at some point and realise just how lucky we are with the problems that we consider significant in most First World countries. With a run time of 121 minutes and rated 12, “Hotel Rwanda” is strictly for adults, especially with the serious themes that run through the film. With 3 Oscar nominations in 2005, “Hotel Rwanda” is moving, graphic, endearing and sad. This is a wonderful piece of movie making with a conscience - do watch it if you can.

Thanks for reading

Mara

DVD/VHS available from Amazon from £11.97

Summary: Write up of the movie