The Terry George film Hotel Rwanda is not an easy film to watch - but it is well worth the uncomfortableness. After all, it's not pleasant to see young children threatened with machetes... field after field of unceremoniously dumped members of the social minority... the non-intervention of Western powers.
The film is very well done. The movie is carried by an unexpectedly strong Don Cheadle performance (the hotel manager who takes on hundreds of political refugees), while much of the other acting is fairly weak. Monologues are either overly predictable or nonsensical, and dialogue is quite dry. Tense, nail-biting scenes run amok in Hotel, and you will not realize you've been holding your breath for ten minutes until you release it.
The picture is by no means painful to sit through, but its most rewarding characteristics come after the film. You're left thinking about quite a few important topics after witnessing the U.N. be fairly ineffective, and Britian, France, America, etc. call in troops only long enough to evacuate their own kind. Should Western powers intervene? Do we, morally, have the right to? Conversely, the obligation? One way or another, you will be rethinking your entire philosophy of American foreign policy.
All in all, the movie is a very rich experience. Dramatic, dark, eye-opening, and above all: THOUGHT-PROVOKING. I heartily recommend this film for all audiences - and let's get to work on that Sudan situation!
Article comments