Hotel Rwanda
I don’t know how it is for you, but I have never really talked about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Back in the day, I even remember that I used to watch news, but most of it was about the war(s) in Yugoslavia. They lasted for awhile, but they were also always on the news, especially in 1994. The more imminent political problems in Europe were obviously overshadowing whatever was happening in irrelevant, poor Africa, and until today, the only time I have heard of them was in geography class, in which I was more shocked about the obscurity of these massacres rather than the happenings itself. (More importantly, all we learned in class was that there was such a thing in Rwanda, that European colonialism was the root of it all, and that it ended with almost a million dead.)
“Hotel Rwanda” is one of those Hollywood attempts to make things right, similar to “Schindler’s List” or even that “John Rabe” movie. Out of all of these, I assume that “Hotel Rwanda” is the closest to the true story and I thought that was very nice. I also liked how they showed that the hero of the story was a constant fugitive himself, fearing more for himself (and his group) rather than putting his wings over everybody. This constant fear was what made the film so different from most of those hero stories, and kept me interested throughout the entire film.
With this, I have finally watched both of Pixelmatsch’s almost 6 year old film recommendations – yay me! It’s really not so easy to make yourself finally tackle a film like this, but I am glad I have finally seen it. Don Cheadle is the best, and you all have to watch “The Guard”. (hrr hrr)