Film Review of Hotel Rwanda
Year: 2004 Reviewer: Chris Docker
I usually say my criteria for assessing a film are asking myself if it inspired, educated or entertained me. I somehow don't seem to have a category for 'it totally devastated me'.
Nearly all the main characters are based on real life people - very real. One of the problems we have in coming to terms with the ethnic destruction of a peoples we have no knowledge of, have little culturally in common with, have little to identify them as 'people' other than a biological acknowledgement is that, for us, they are not very 'real'. So is the point of a film about the Rwandan genocide that left a million dead that they become more real? Does that make any difference? One of the results of going to see this very powerful, very harrowing (and in terms of the personal integrity and bravery of some central characters, very beautiful) film is that part of the proceeds go towards helping the people who are left. Another, perhaps, is that by becoming more aware of suffering our desire to find a way to avoid or alleviate it increases. The film shows a divide between - on one hand - the Rwandan people who, rich or poor, had sensibilities much like you or I, - and on the other hand - the troglodytes that wanted to kill each other and (with a logic reminiscent of President Bush's "if you're not with us you're against us" simplistic attitude) anyone who didn't join them. The inclusiveness of the carnage and the inability (or unwillingness) of the West to help meant there was no get out along the lines of 'if they want to kill each other let them'.
The performances are so spellbinding that it is hard to watch the film without feeling the suffering of those involved. Although it points the finger at a reluctance of the West to get involved, we also have to ask ourselves that, even if the powerful governments or the UN were willing to get involved, could the carnage have been prevented? The lack of any well-structured hint at a potential solution is perhaps one of the (very few) flaws of the film. Similarly, the swiftness of some of the events makes historic sense but there is not always enough detail to explain why things happened the way they did. But it seems clear that some intervention could have at least reduced a large amount of the carnage, so in a way Hotel Rwanda is a protest against international apathy.
The official website of the movie provides much in the way of reference material, links and analysis. This helped to confirm my view while watching the film that those involved felt that there was something more at stake than being film stars. In doing so they have become true stars, irrespective of what awards were won or not.
Rating: 8/10
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