Hotel Rwanda

I saw Hotel Rwanda a couple of days ago and it effected me in a way that I wasn’t expecting. This movie is a true story about a man who saved hundreds of lives amidst the genocide of nearly 1 million Tutsis in the early 1990’s. If you haven’t seen this film, I highly recommend it. The film is shot beautifully and Don Cheadle is amazing.

The thing that rattled me about this film is the fact that human lives were being taken–and when I say taken I mean brutally murdered–and no one did anything to help. There is a great conversation in the film between Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), and Jack (Joaquin Phoenix) who is an American journalist. After Jack and his partner acquire some footage of the massive slaughter that is taking place, Paul comes to him and says that he is happy that people will see this footage because when they see it, people will come to their aid. Jack looks at Paul and with shame in his voice says: “Most people will see something like this on the television and go, ‘Oh that’s terrible’ and then return to their dinners. They just don’t care.” What a heavy indictment. But how true it is. I remember hearing about this when it was happening, but there was never a sense of urgency or a call to do anything more than watch from a distance. How can a million human beings be brutalized, an entire race of men, almost completely wiped out, and yet we do nothing? Even today, with thousands of people being murdered in Darfour, no one does anything. I don’t even hear anything on the news mentioning this tragedy.

Hotel Rwanda is a beautiful movie that evokes many feelings. I watched, and wondered, “how can something like this happen?” Shame is the feeling that overcame me.