Hotel Rwanda Review
The year is 1994. The country of Rwanda is experiencing the beginning of a brutal civil war between the Hutu and the Tutsi. When the notorious Rwandan Genocide has commenced, a hotel manager named Paul Rusesabagina (played brilliantly by Don Cheadle) provides shelter for his own family and friends, as well as a thousand refugees who are trying to protecting themselves from harm. At this time, Paul does all he can to protect everyone from fear, famine, and the militia.
Since this is based on a true story, you already know that it's going to be brutally disturbing. Hotel Rwanda is a very powerful film that touches on hate, violence, and political corruption. It also focuses on family matters and, to some extent, the American media. Those who have weak stomachs will have to be warned: this is a completely solemn piece of work that's grounded in hard-hitting realism. It's not as violent as Schindler's List or Full Metal Jacket, but it's the drama and realism that makes it so gut-wrenching. And it's not only the drama that makes this film so endearing: Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Nick Nolte, and Joaquin Phoenix give very convincing performances.
Hotel Rwanda is an excellent and unforgettable film that is quite effective due to the story being true. It's strong, it's unsettling, it's humorless, but most of all, it's important. This is easily one of the best films of 2004, and one of the best of the 2000's.
Grade: A
Hotel Rwanda Overview
Once you find out what happened in Rwanda, you'll never forget. OscarÂ(r) nominee* Don Cheadle (Traffic) gives "the performance of his career in this extraordinarily powerful" (The Hollywood Reporter) and moving true story of one man's brave stance against savagery during the 1994 Rwandan conflict. Sophie Okonedo (Dirty Pretty Things) co-stars as the loving wife who challenges a good man to become a great man. As his country descends into madness, five-star-hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina (Cheadle) sets out to save his family. But when he sees that theworld will not intervene in the massacre of minority Tutsis, he finds the courage to open his hotelto more than 1,200 refugees. Now, with a rabid militia at the gates, he must use his well-honed grace, flattery and cunning to protect his guests from certain death. *2004: Actor, Hotel Rwanda
Hotel Rwanda Specifications
Solidly built around a subtle yet commanding performance by Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda emerged as one of the most highly-praised dramas of 2004. In a role that demands his quietly riveting presence in nearly every scene, Cheadle plays real-life hero Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager in the Rwandan capital of Kigali who in 1994 saved 1,200 Rwandan "guests" from certain death during the genocidal clash between tribal Hutus, who slaughtered a million victims, and the horrified Tutsis, who found safe haven or died. Giving his best performance since his breakthrough role in Devil in a Blue Dress, Cheadle plays Rusesabagina as he really was during the ensuing chaos: "an expert in situational ethics" (as described by critic Roger Ebert), doing what he morally had to do, at great risk and potential sacrifice, with an understanding that wartime negotiations are largely a game of subterfuge, cooperation, and clever bribery. Aided by a United Nations official (Nick Nolte), he worked a saintly miracle, and director Terry George (Some Mother's Son) brings formidable social conscience to bear on a true story you won't soon forget. --Jeff Shannon
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