Excellent movie, and well worth seeing. Set during the opening weeks of the Tutsi Massacres of 1994, the movie chooses not to focus on the callous indifference of the Western World, but instead on the resourcefulness of the few who tried to stand in the way of genocide.
Don Cheadle, who I've enjoyed watching since his days on Picket Fences plays Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who, similar to Oskar Schindler during another genocide, , used his position to shelter over a thousand Tutsi's and moderate Hutu's from the carnage.
This movie raised a lot of issues for me, many of which I'll be exploring in posts to come, but primarily, it made me feel ashamed. Over a million people were slaughtered in about 3 months, and during that entire time, we, the United States of America, did nothing.
In April of 1986, I was a young E-4, going through training at Nuclear Prototype Training Unit in Ballston Spa, NY, learning how to run a Naval nuclear propulsion plant. Responding to a bombing of a disc frequented by US Military forces in Berlin, President Reagan ordered an air stike on terrorist targets in Libya. At the time, I was corresponding with a lovely young lady from back home who was teaching and travelling in Europe. She wrote about how everyone in her circles despised the US and our "cowboy ways," and that she was "...ashamed to be an Anerican citizen." She was outraged by the attack on Libya; because in her opinion there was no way we could have known that they were behind the attacks, we must have been just reacting blindly, striking out in fear and hatred.
I couldn't understand her shame; we had been targetted, we found who was responsible, and we reacted to defend ourselves. Where's the shame in that?
Now, let's move back to 1994 and Africa. While hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children were brutally murdered, the UN did nothing. The US did nothing. We let it happen. Now that's something to be ashamed of.
We all would like to think that, had we been in a position to do something, we would have. Hotel Rwanda is the story of a man who was in the position, and did.
Don Cheadle plays the part of Paul as the consummate hotel manager. Always calm and cool, using style to avert every crisis, he handles each problem as it comes his way, never letting himself become overwhelmed. The beauty of Cheadle's performance is that we get to see the tremendous price he pays to maintain that image, in everything from a trapped look in his eyes to a full on breakdown. Without that dimension to the roll, Paul would be a card board shell, with no substance.
Cheadle is joined by Sophie Okonedo who plays Tatiana, his Tutsi wife, and is nominated for a Supporting Actress Oscar. As I've mentioned before, when I think of an Oscar worthy performance, the role has to be a meaty one. Marisa Tomei won an Oscar for her work in My Cousin Vinny for what was basically a one note character. To me, that's just not good enough. The role of Tatiana in this movie illustrates exactly what I mean. Okonedo is simply tremendous as she takes us with her through the pain and fear of those days. What really struck me though, was a scene shot on the rooftop of the hotel, one which takes a surprising turn. It catches us by surprise because there is no warning in either actors' performance.
That's impressive.
OK, two more movies to go, Closer, and Finding Neverland. I'll get to 'em as soon as possible, but real life has a way of interrupting every now and again.
Posted by Rich at February 20, 2005 8:28 PM | TrackBack