January 26, 2005
Hotel Rwanda
I'm ashamed to admit that as a high school student, I simply didn't pay attention to the news all that much. I'm not really sure how many of us did. Seeing a movie like this makes me regret not having paid more attention, and makes me upset that our teachers never discussed what was going on in Rwanda with us. It's a movie that made me both sad and angry.
The story focuses in on a hotel manager in the midst of a genocidal situation, who suddenly becomes the savior of many people who find shelter at his hotel. His own wife and children are in danger because his wife is Tutsi, and as the movie progresses, his shoulders are loaded heavily with responsibility for the safety of his family as well as his several hundred guests.
Don Cheadle, toward whom I have never particularly felt anything but indifference, surprised me. I really admired his portrayal of Paul Rusesabagina. It reminded me a lot of the hotel manager in Dirty Pretty Things, whose calm demeanor is stretched as situations become more complicated. Oddly enough, Sophie Okenedo was in Dirty Pretty Things and is now in Hotel Rwanda. Vastly different characters, but I like her.
I'm not going to say Hotel Rwanda was THE best movie I saw this year, but its story should be seen, and I do think it was one of the better movies I experienced.
Posted by wendytime at January 26, 2005 12:39 PM | TrackBack