Hotel Rwanda

Hotel Rwanda
Directed by	Terry George
Written by	Keir Pearson, Terry George
Produced by	Terry George A. Kitman Ho
Starring	Don Cheadle Sophie Okonedo Ahmed Panchbaya Nick Nolte Jean Reno
Distributed by	Lions Gate Films United Artists
Release dates	September 11, 2004
Running time	121 min.
Languages	English, French
Budget	~ US$17,500,000

Hotel Rwanda is a historical drama film that shows the quiet heroism of one man, Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), during the Rwandan Genocide. Directed by Northern Irish filmmaker Terry George, it was co-produced in 2004 by US, British, Italian, and South African companies, and the first ever co-production between the rival independent film studios Lions Gate Films and United Artists. It was filmed mostly in South Africa, with some second unit filming in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.

Hotel Rwanda has been called an African Schindler's List. Each movie portrays one imperfect man who uses his political position, social skills, and quick wit to rescue thousands of lives from a holocaust. Unlike its more famous cousin, Hotel Rwanda did not win any Oscars, though it was nominated for three: Best Actor (Cheadle), Best Supporting Actress (Sophie Okonedo), and Best Original Screenplay.

Synopsis

The film is based on true events that took place during the genocidal violence that erupted in Rwanda between the Hutu and Tutsi groups in 1994, when the Hutu military and Interahamwe militias killed roughly one million Tutsis in barely three months. There have been many controversies between the two groups over the years. The central character is Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), a Hutu who managed the four-star Sabena-owned Hôtel des Mille Collines in Kigali. Amidst the rapidly degenerating chaos of the genocide, and fearing for the life of his Tutsi wife, friends, and others, he struggles to maintain his luxury hotel as an oasis from the violence, turning it into a safe haven for as many refugees as he can. All other political powers are shown turning their backs on Rwanda. A well-intended but under-resourced U.N. peace-keeping commander (Nick Nolte) is incapable of stopping the blood-shed, and frustrated at the absence of support or concern from abroad. The callousness and ineffectivity of the international community and the vociferous terror of the genocidal militias and generals, all contrast sharply with the humble, effective life-saving manipulations of Rusesabagina.

Plot

The film opens with a radio being tuned in to RTLM, playing an extremist anti-Tutsi broadcast (“They are cockroaches. They are murderers. Rwanda is our Hutu land”) to elaborate on the situation in Rwanda in 1994. Massive tensions existed between the Hutus, the majority group and the Tutsis, the minority group that had once had governmental control. The invasion by the predominantly Tutsi RPF and the resulting civil war had increased these tensions.

Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle) and his wife, Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo) make a good living in Rwanda with their three children, two girls and a son. As Paul is the hotel manager of the Belgian resort, the Hotel des Mille Collines - perhaps the most extravagant hotel in the country. As Paul continues his daily job of gladhanding high-ranking Rwandan officials and foreign visitors, he starts to become aware of a dangerous tension brewing in the city. Early in the film Paul goes to visit George Rutaganda, deputy leader of the Hutu extremist Interahamwe militia, who encourages him to join the Interahamwe. Paul, a moderate Hutu, refuses. Paul begins to realize that something terrible is about to happen in the country, but his fears are eased because the United Nations and foreign press are in the city to cover the president signing a historic peace agreement.

Paul and the others at the hotel are informed that the president was killed when his plane was shot down, presumably by the Tutsi extremists (it has been alleged that Hutu extremists upset at the peace signing, shot down the president so as to have a motivating catalyst for the actions against the Tutsi.) Massive Hutu riots begin, as tens of thousands of Tutsis across the city and country are slaughtered by the Interahamwe, who are backed by the (predominantly Hutu) national army. Paul immediately looks after his family only, and hopes the uprising will be squashed because of the U.N. presence in the country, coupled with journalists openly documenting the slaughter. (One such journalist in the country is played by actor Joaquin Phoenix.)

As conditions worsen, Paul starts to locate his friends and relatives, many of them (including his wife) are Tutsi, in an attempt to transport them to the hotel, as it is under the protection of U.N. soldiers, led by Colonel Oliver (Nick Nolte). Paul manages to bribe violent soldiers into letting his friends and family live, and gets them into the hotel. Hundreds more refugees flock to the hotel for safety and the staff becomes overwhelmed with feeding and helping all the children and injured. Ten Belgian U.N. soldiers are murdered while protecting Tutsi Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, who was also killed.

A convoy from a French-led intervention force arrives, but only to evacuate foreign nationals, mostly whites and journalists who were guests there. Oliver leaves the hotel with only four U.N. guards and shamefully tells Paul that no foreign help is coming to stop the slaughter because no one cares enough to intervene, as troops from both the intervention force and from some of the UNAMIR nations withdraw. Paul telephones all his contacts and trades in favors he had built up as manager of the hotel. His phone calls buy him some time, as army men are told to stay away from the Hotel des Mille Collines. While Paul continues to bribe and beg for refugee lives, he has Rwandans call their political contacts outside the country to shame them into helping. The phone calls continue to work successfully, and a portion of the refugees are picked up by a U.N. convoy to be evacuated, but one of the hotel staff turns traitor and gives information to the Interahamwe, who then attack the convoy but are stopped by Bizimungu's soldiers. Oliver and his men turn the trucks around and make it back to the hotel.

RTLM radio urges Hutus to storm the hotel and kill Paul as well as all the Tutsi "cockroaches". Paul, in a desperate attempt, manages to convince his contact in the Hutu army, General Augustin Bizimungu, that he will be charged with war crimes unless he comes to the hotel and stops the Interahamwe from slaughtering refugees. Bizimungu attempts to convince Paul to retreat with him and the army to Gitarama, to escape the RPF rebel advance on Kigali, but eventually agrees with Paul. The plan works, and the refugees are saved. A large convoy of U.N. trucks finally arrives to save everyone, traveling away from the hotel. The convoy passes thousands of fleeing Hutus, attempting to escape from the RPF. The convoy is rescued from an Interahamwe attack by an RPF ambush and is able to reach the refugee camp. At the camp, Paul and Tatiana find their two missing nieces among other lost children as well as Pat Archer (a Red Cross member who brought several orphans to the hotel earlier in the story), and celebrate their survival and reunion.

The ending titles reveal that Paul managed to save 1,268 refugees and that the RPF invasion and the Hutu army/Interahamwe retreated into Zaire. It also explains that Rutaganda and General Bizimungu were tried for crimes against humanity, but also reveals that almost 1,000,000 Rwandans lost their lives in the genocide. Paul now lives in Belgium with his family, including his adopted nieces.

Historical accuracy

Several journalists and historians confirm the film's accuracy in portraying the fundamental sequence of events at the Hotel de Mille Collines and surrounding Kigali.

However, the film contains some minor historical inaccuracies:

• Characters in the film refer to the "Congo", instead of Zaire, which was the name of the DRC at the time.
• Colonel Oliver in the film is Canadian but refers to his lieutenants as "lū-tĕn'ənts" the American pronunciation; however, the Canadian pronunciation is modeled after the British where the rank is pronounced "lĕf-tĕn'ənts".
• The green Land Rover Defender used by the Hutus is UK-military spec, probably a 1980s-era ex-MoD surplus. The peacekeepers' trucks are South African-made SAMILs.
• Because Hotel Rwanda was filmed mostly in South Africa, where one drives on the left-hand side of the road, many of the vehicles are right-hand drive. Rwandans drive on the right side of the road, so the use of right-hand drive cars is incorrect. The mistake is most obvious in the scenes involving buses, which have passenger doors on the wrong (left) side.

Some people involved in the events at the Hotel de Mille Collines dispute George and Pearson's telling of the story.

• The character of Colonel Oliver (Nick Nolte) is a synthesis of Canadian Lt-Gen. Roméo Dallaire, Commander of UNAMIR, the ill-fated United Nations peacekeeping force in Rwanda, along with several other Canadian commanders. Some have complained that Dallaire is not given due credit for his role in trying to stop the violence. Dallaire is quoted as saying that neither the producer nor Nolte consulted with him before shooting the film .
• Amadou Deme, a Senegalese Army Captain who served in the intelligence team of UNAMIR, was with the convoy transporting the refugees that had gained diplomatic asylum behind the Rwandan Patriotic Front's advance who were stopped at a roadblock in Kigali. He has stated that "General Dallaire was not even in Kigali but in Rwamagana," and "in fact, there were no white commanders there that day." He has also stated, "there is no question in my mind, or in the minds of those who served with me, that many could have died if anyone had fired a shot or said the wrong thing," and that the actual hero there was Georges Rutaganda, who he picked up and driven to the road block, "risked his life to save refugees, including Paul's wife, at a roadblock in Kigali,” and that "fortunately, for our UN mission and everybody at that barricade, Rutaganda is in fact a large, friendly, soft-spoken and intelligent man who saved the day." [1]

Subtle or hidden references

A magazine rack in the lobby of the hotel holds a copy of Time magazine's 1992 Man of the Year with Bill Clinton on the cover. This was likely a deliberate statement by the film-maker, calling attention to Clinton's admitted failure to prevent or stop the Rwandan genocide.

Reviews

The film has received a great deal of critical acclaim, with a 91% 'fresh' rating on RottenTomatoes. As of April 2007, the film is ranked #63 in The Internet Movie Database's ranking of the top 250 films. In the United States, the film was originally rated R, but is one of the few films that appealed and won its appeal. It was re-rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and brief strong language. Hotel Rwanda was nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Actor for Don Cheadle, Best Supporting Actress for Sophie Okonedo, and Best Original Screenplay for Keir Pearson and Terry George.

The American Film Institute ranked Hotel Rwanda as #90 on its list of the 100 most inspirational movies of all time. Film critic Richard Roeper said that it was one of the most inspirational films that he had ever seen and named the film the best of 2004 . Roger Ebert gave the film four-stars and ranked Hotel Rwanda as the ninth best movie of 2004. Ebert's website provides a summary of additional reviews

According to the December 3, 2006 edition of 60 Minutes, Hotel Rwanda was the fifth most-rented movie on Netflix at the time. It was number four most rented in June 2007 .

Awards/Nominations

Academy Awards
Category	Performer	Result
Best Actor	Don Cheadle	Nominated
Best Supporting Actress	Sophie Okonedo	Nominated
Best Original Screenplay	Terry George & Keir Pearson	Nominated
BAFTA Award
Category	Performer	Result
Best Original Screenplay	Terry George & Keir Pearson	Nominated
Black Reel Awards
Category	Performer	Result
Best Actor in a Drama	Don Cheadle	Nominated
Best Actress in a Drama	Sophie Okonedo	Winner
Broadcast Film Critics
Category	Performer	Result
Best Actor in a Drama	Don Cheadle	Nominated
Best Picture	N/A	Nominated

Cast

• Don Cheadle as Paul Rusesabagina
• Sophie Okonedo as Tatiana Rusesabagina
• Nick Nolte as Colonel Oliver
• Fana Mokoena as General Augustin Bizimungu
• Joaquin Phoenix as Jack Daglish (the journalist)
• Jean Reno as Sabena Airlines President, Mr. Tillens
• Desmond Dube as Dube
• Hakeem Kae-Kazim as George Rutaganda

Similar films

• Schindler's List
• Shooting Dogs
• Sometimes in April

See also

• Rwandan Genocide
• Paul Rusesabagina
• Georges Ruggiu (the radio announcer)
• Million Voices - song from the film

External links

• Official site
• Hotel Rwanda at IMDb
• Filming the Unfilmable - The challenge of the genocide movie
• Hotel Rwanda at the Arts & Faith Top100 Spiritually Significant Films list
• Don Cheadle interview for Hotel Rwanda
• Immortal Chaplains Foundation honors Rusesibagina, and affirms the movie's version of events