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
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
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Powerfully Amazing!:
This movie is one of the most powerful of it's type. When it was first out, there were two other movies depicting the genocides and problems facing african nations. While each is very good, Hotel Rwanda is the best. It's simple story about a simple man saving hundreds of people, and the personal growth he experienced, reaches out across the Atlantic to touch all of us who watch it. Paul's struggle to save first his family, then the hundreds who came to him forhelp, is very powerfully portrayed. I... more info
Read the book:
I have not seen this movie. From the comments I did read I feel Hollywood has once again taken facts and Holywood-ized them. The main character had only a minimal role and pretty much didn't have a choice to help out.
To make a factual assessment of the Genocide in Rwanda you should read the book "Shake Hands with the Devil" by Romeo Dallaire. He was the General in charge of the UN forces there at the time. It outlines the complete futility of the mission, the inept UN Organization in New York, the... more info
Powerful and stunning fictionalized (but fact-based) history:
Don Cheadle, as Paul Ruseasabagina, the Rwandan Manager of a 4-star hotel which serves as a haven for Europeans and African Elites, gives a performance that is at once measured, controlled and deeply anguished. As a fact-based but fictionalized account, "Hotel Rwanda" captures the horror and absolute madness of racially-based war that had its origins in European colonialization when the Germans (and later the Belgians, to much more devastating effect) exalted the Tutsis (for the their more "European"... more info
dvd:
I gave this as a gift. They were very pleased as they had been to Africa that year and said it depicted some of the areas they travelled.
