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Hotel Rwanda review
2005.03.16 — Entertainment | Movies | Movie Reviews | by Andrew Cole
A man of quiet dignity and resourcefulness. [official site] |
Don Cheadle cements his place in film history with his portrayal of Paul Rusesabagina, real-life hero of the horrible 1994 Rwanda massacres that left a million innocent people dead. It is his quiet dignity that carries Hotel Rwanda to its full conclusion, the rescue of over a thousand refugees by hiding them in his four-star Belgian-owned hotel.
Sophie Okonedo portrays Tatiana, Paul's wife, a fearful woman who has little more to do than cling weepily to her husband and children. Nick Nolte has a similarly thankless turn as an well-meaning Canadian colonel trying to keep peace in the middle of a civil war without turning it into an international incident.
Jean Reno and Joaquin Phoenix support, with surprisingly sympathetic roles as outsiders trying to help despite the indifference of their countries. Phoenix is our man on the ground, shooting footage he hopes will get the world's attention. Reno is the owner of Cheadle's hotel, a Belgian back at the home office in Belgium, pulling a few strings early on to keep the wolf away from Cheadle's door a little longer.
The situation in Rwanda in 1994 was a powder keg. |
The situation in Rwanda in 1994 was a powder keg that went largely unnoticed by the international press at the time. Internal strife boiled over after a hundred years of post-colonial bad government, one faction plotting against another, culminating in assassinations followed by three months of relentless bloody massacre. The situation was too hot to cover by news organizations, too big to control by peacekeepers. Would we be able to do anything different today? How do you stop half a nation from slaughtering the other half?
Perhaps we should remember that 1994 was kind of a bad year for the new media. Tonya Harding, the Northridge earthquake, and OJ Simpson ate up most of the news day for the entire year and didn't leave Americans with a lot of time to worry about, for example, genocide. Sorry, Paul.
Look for [Terry George] in the credits of Schindler's List 2 if Spielberg opts out. |
The film was written and directed by Terry George, who is making a name for himself as the filmmaker of choice for compelling human dramas no one really wants to see (Hart's War, The Boxer). Look for his name in the credits of Schindler's List 2 if Spielberg opts out.
Cheadle's performance as the savvy and ingenious hotel manager who uses all his craft and cunning to keep the murderers at bay is a study in character. It is nearly a one-man show, with Cheadle in very nearly every scene. If the film has a weakness, it is this relentless telling of the story from its protagonist's point of view. Even the little we learn of the outside world's reaction to the tragedy is thru crackly radio reports and telephone conversations.
[W]hat beer is most appropriate for a romantic nighttime suicide pact[?] |
This film could almost have been a made-for-TV-movie. The violence is surprisingly restrained, almost too much so to be effective. Still, the driving power of the desperate struggle of Paul Rusesbagina to save his family, friends, and neighbors, combined with a marvelous score, left me breathless.
And it's not giving anything away to say that the film also answered a burning question I've had for a long time of what beer is most appropriate for a romantic nighttime suicide pact. (Heineken)
f e e d b a c k
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