Hotel Rwanda
by Terry George
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DVD details
Actor: Desmond Dube, Don Cheadle, Joaquin Phoenix, Sophie Okonedo, Xolani MaliDirector: Terry George
Brand: TCFHE/MGM
Writer: Terry George
Producer: A. Kitman Ho
Producer: Bridget Pickering
Producer: Duncan Reid
Producer: Francesco Melzi d'Eril
Producer: Hal Sadoff
Writer: Keir Pearson
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 121 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-04-12
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of Hotel Rwanda
DVD Review: Almost perfect! One flaw.
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie is a work of art.
Others have given great reviews here, so I won't go on to retell the storyline. I recommend Kim Anehall's review of the movie below if that's what you're searching for. I'll just rant on a few other things pertinent to the film.
I recommend the photographic book, "Inferno", by James Nachtwey if you want to see the real face of this brutal civil war. Nachtwey once said he "was a war photographer; but now is an anti-war photographer." "Inferno" is the sort of war-time photography seen only during Vietnam. He covers, along side Rwanda, Somalia, Romania, India, Sudan, Bosnia, Zaire, Chechnya and Kosovo in his 473 page masterpiece. I tell everyone that "Inferno" should be mandatory reading (Viewing) throughout the western world. So, if this movie impacted you, I recommend you go here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0714838152 and get a copy.
We in the western world can "switch off" the horror of war simply be reaching for the remote. Movies and entertainment make us all numb to the reality of human suffering. I look around and see SUVs with $20,000 in Tires and Mags alone and think of what could be done with that money. A Lawyer's suit. A Plasma Television.
I watch this movie and think about all the people whining about the price of petrol. Yes, we in the west carry a heavy burden. How do we do it?
Naughtwey also has a book out on Afghanistan and Iraq, titled "War", which I'm sure won't look as tame as what Bush, CNN or Fox News would have had you think the wars were like. Have to wait till next paycheque for that one.
My "glaring flaw" is the films fictitious Canadian UN peacekeeper, General Oliver (Real name: Romeo Dallaire). I'm sorry, but too many times have I seen Hollywood rewrite with history like they have some right. Sometimes justifying it with excuses like, "Americans won't go see a film about (Enter a historical figure or country), they want to see Americans." Examples of this are U571, Last Samurai, Private Ryan (Where one gets the feeling that America "took" the beach. Five beaches, two for America, two for Britain, and one for Canada) The list goes on and on.
This film is not nearly as deplorable as most others. The film does a respectable, and rare, job of offering a fair portrayal of a non-American demonstrating unbelievable bravery and dedication to his mission, and the people. In many instances you can plainly see his Canadian flag on his shoulder. So, I doubt the name change was malicious, but I have to ask why. I've read it was because the character was "loosely" based on the real man. I for one doubt it. I feel strongly that the REAL name should have been used, no matter what the cost. Whatever the reason, I have a hard time believing it was a good one. If he didn't like something in the script, change the inaccuracies. If this was an American general, I doubt very much the movie company would allow his name to be changed. The man is a real hero, and deserves more recognition than the world has given him. I remove one full star for that, and I don't care what their reasoning was. It is just plain criminal.
Lt General Romeo Dallaire in Rwanda:
While the western world sat on their hands, Dallaire did all he could with what they gave him, saving thousands of lives in the process. President Clinton, at the UN General Assembly of all places, said he would go ONLY if it was in their self-interest. To put it crudely, he might as well have said, "if we can ring oil out of the dead bodies, we'll be there." Dallaire made several pleas to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York for more troops (He asked for 5,000 minimum) and was repeatedly denied. On top of that, he was instructed not to intervene, and was not authorized to use any force. While spin doctors struggled to "accurately define" genocide, Dallaire stared it in the face. How he and his men survived can only be described as miracle, and I'm not religious. After rejecting Dallaire's call for aid, the US refused to acknowledge Rwanda as genocide in order to avoid any possible legal obligation to help the dying. Dallaire felt betrayed by the Belgians perhaps most of all. After ordering 10 of his finest men to secure the Prime Minister of Rwanda, 10 highly trained Belgians, who were among the finest and most experienced in the region. They were ambushed, murdered and mutilated. Dallaire took the full brunt of the blame by the Belgian press and people. The entire Belgian battalion was promptly pulled from Rwanda. Dallaire admitted failing later, but for him, the failure was not to the Belgians, but to the people of Rwanda, who lost nearly one-hundred-thousand times as many people. After the conflict, Dallaire was treated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He never commanded troops again.
As I said, others have given great reviews here, so I didn't go on into the storyline much. I just felt someone had to step forward and ask why it was necessary to change the name of such a great man. What would people say if they changed Paul Rusesabagina's name? It would be an equally disrespectful act.
Dallaire has written a book on his experiences in Rwanda, which I am anxiously waiting for the shipment of. It is called "Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda", and you can get it here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0786715103
The only other complaint I would have is the seemingly deliberate distance between the viewer and the violence. Again, something books like "Inferno" reveal. I believe it is important, especially in a world numb to violence through video games and movies, that people see the brutality of war accurately. It should be hard to watch. Next to impossible. If not, the message may not stick with the viewer throughout their lifetime. Shock value cannot be underestimated. Like those drinking and driving videos I recall from High-School that will never leave your memory, movies like this must sear a visual image of terror and horror that IS reality in all wars, or they can't help but fall short of the mark.
Since this movie had such an impact on me, I truly want to give it a five, but when there's tampering with history like this, I for one get a little aggravated. I'm grateful that a real Peacekeeper named Romeo Dallaire was in Rwanda in 1994, not some made-up guy named "General Oliver".
I apologize in advance if there is some legitimate reason why his name was changed.
Description of Hotel Rwanda
Once you find out what happened in Rwanda, you'll never forget. OscarĀ(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 RwandaSolidly 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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