Hotel Rwanda: Film Review of the 1994 Genocide Story

Introduction: A Film Rooted in Real Events

Hotel Rwanda is a dynamic film inspired by the true events that took place in Rwanda in 1994. The source of the tension is a rebel faction inciting Hutu Rwandans against Tutsi Rwandans. The rebels project themselves as an oppressed Hutu people who suffered discrimination during Belgium's colonial occupation of the country. During the Belgian colonial period, the Tutsis were regarded by the Hutu as receiving favorable treatment from the Belgian colonists, thus casting the Hutu aside on the basis of racial bias.

The truth of the matter, as the film presents it, is that the Hutu rebel forces are corrupt, and the conflict does not arise from genuine oppression but from the greed of people who wish to seize the country for individual wealth. This theme of greed and corruption is brought to the foreground by director Terry George — a bold creative choice. Although George does not let the Belgians go without remark, it is clear that Belgium's colonization of Rwanda did not serve the country well in the long run.

Paul Rusesabagina and Don Cheadle's Performance

Actor Don Cheadle delivers a superb performance as the hero Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager who wheels and deals with corrupt government officials and rebel leaders, playing both sides of the fence in an effort to protect those in his care. Rusesabagina, in the film as in real life, is a Hutu married to a Tutsi woman; together they have children and are close to Paul's wife's family.

Paul wants to keep his family out of politics, but once the Hutu rebels begin slaughtering the Tutsi people, it becomes impossible for him to remain neutral. His position as a skilled negotiator and pragmatic survivor is at the heart of the film's dramatic tension.

Taking Refuge and Waiting for Intervention

Paul and his family take refuge in the hotel where he works — a Belgian-owned establishment. There, they hold out in hope of a United Nations intervention to stop the violence. Unfortunately, as in real life, it would be more than a hundred days before the world moved to intervene in the genocide unfolding in Rwanda. By the time it was over, countless lives had been lost.

The film makes this devastatingly concrete in one of its most powerful scenes: returning from obtaining supplies from a rebel leader, Paul and his driver realize in the darkness that they are not driving along a badly rutted road — they are driving over the hundreds of bodies of murdered men, women, and children left lying where they fell.

Conclusion: A Statement About Power and Exploitation

In the end, hundreds of thousands of people die — impoverished, working-class Rwandans killing one another because they have been manipulated by forces they cannot resist. The film does not make indictments of the Hutu, the Tutsi, or any particular nation. Instead, it makes a powerful statement about the greed and corruption of those who exploit the masses for personal gain.

It shows the United Nations as an organization that spews rhetoric but does little of substance — a parallel that was painfully visible at the time of the film's release in the ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. Hotel Rwanda is ultimately a film about what happens when the world turns away, and its message remains urgent.