Hotel Rwanda
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: B+ Film: B+
Any time an important film comes out about something bad
happening in another country where people are getting killed, why must so many
people have the selfish reaction: Why should I care? Is it because they feel like it is not happening to them that
they should not do or say anything or trouble will start for them? Is it emotional and/or mental laziness? Is it racism? Is it actually hitting a nerve closer to home? Terry George’s Hotel Rwanda (2004)
was one of last years best films, yet it did not do as much business as two
other great films that got all the critical acclaim: martin Scorsese’s amazing The
Aviator and Clint Eastwood’s stunning Million Dollar Baby.
The answer to all the above questions is yes in just about
all cases, as we do not like to generalize around here. Of course, it sadly took 9/11/01’s attack
for some Americans to wise up and realize otherwise, but we can blame the powerful
news media in this country for ignoring the story. This is something that cannot be blamed on the mythical “liberal
media” or ultra-conservative corporations that own the actual outlets. Instead, it is about a deeper sense of
ignorance and thinking we are above mortality, but this film does a great job
of showing otherwise and why ignoring the problem accelerates it.
Don Cheadle, one of the finest actors of his generation,
takes on the lead role of the hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina. He juggles everything and everyone, from
local people to elite money and power types.
However, a new civil war is about to set in, inspired in part by a
horrific 24-hour radio broadcast urging killing. Thousands of machetes are coming in from China and the bloodshed
is not far away. He does his best to handle
the worst, then it gets so bad, he has to take matters into his hand more
extremely. Cheadle does a haunting job
of playing Rusesabagina.
Joaquin Phoenix is a reporter who wants to tell the story,
though he keeps getting distracted by women.
Nick Nolte is the realist U.S. military head who can really see what
little the U.N. or U.S. will do.
Rusesabagina is at first naïve to think the U.N. will help and the peace
agreement would automatically hold because it was signed. He was never more wrong in his life. Instead of the same old story and genocidal
results, and the genocide was real and massive, the screenplay by Keir Pearson
and George is more interested in finer details. As Rusesabagina discovers what is really going on, over 1,200
refugees are in his hotel. The terror
raiding went on for 100+ days.
Cheadle has done dozens of supporting roles, but he shines
in this all too rare lead, showing vulnerability, intelligence and emotional
depth as a man who was trying to do the best thing and right thing while
constantly putting his life in jeopardy.
He even falls in love with an amazing woman (Sophie Okonedo) who he
sensibly falls in love with. When
things get bad, he realizes his emotional investment was for keeps.
A long time ago, Hollywood used to be great enough to make
this kind of film all the time. This is
not a message film as much as a story film and has no formula to it, just the
telling of one of the most important stories of the last ten years you have not
heard about. The whole thing is an
international disgrace and millions literally paid for it with their
lives. This is fine, remarkable
filmmaking and one of the few films of the last 25 years that deserves to claim
the tagline “based on a true story” without exploiting it and throwing just
anything up on screen. This is a film
about dignity with dignity and we cannot get enough of that anywhere today.
The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image was shot by
Robert Fraisse and is a fine use of scope framing that does not look like it
was compromised for TV. The look, down
to the color schemes and location shooting, is like nothing we have seen
before. The result is that a world is
created like few films before in a way that makes this seem far more realistic
than any TV news broadcast. The
slaughter is never shown on screen, but you can see and feel it in the
atmosphere of the look that is clever in slowly unraveling the nightmare.
Sound is also used exceptionally well, presented here in
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with Pro Logic surrounds and a better 5.1 mix. Andrea Guerre, Rupert Gregson-Williams and
the Afro Celt Sound System provide the music score, and all is presented well
here, but no DTS track here is especially disappointing because it would
further hit home the story. This is
still one of MGM’s best sound DVD lately.
Extras include an audio commentary by George and the real
Rusesabagina, select comments by Wyclef Jean of The Fugees, and select comments
by Cheadle. Trailers for this and other
MGM tiles, plus two featurette documentaries are included. One is on the making of the film at about 28
minutes, while the other is a trip back to Rwanda that last a brief-but-rich 14
minutes. Outside of the promos, all the
extras just add more layers to a fine film.
When I was finished, I realized the media still failed to tell
this story and could still care less about who got killed. Fortunately, Hotel Rwanda is a brave
film that everyone should watch. If you
are in the vast majority who has not seen it, only ignorance can stop you.
- Nicholas Sheffo
