Hotel Rwanda (2004)

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Hotel RwandaTicking for around 2 hours, the material offered to the audience is concrete and interesting enough to invest and this is where it excels as it demands attention from the first frame hitting hard and fast. The screenplay writer and director, Terry George might be the weakest link in this feature for it needed a better execution. And on performance side, Don Cheadle has got it covered and doesn't even require any support for he is capable and does carry it all on his shoulder. Hotel Rwanda; if excels on explicit writing and stellar performance, the objective somehow seems a bit distracted as it fails on captivating the audience and create the anticipated drama on screen.

I had it seen it long ago on the big screen. Then about five minutes of the film on TV last night and it got me again. In the rain, the bus departing, the children singing. Don Cheadle is a man of many faces. This was one of his most remarkable. The quiet dignity in the face of the unspeakable in order to provide safety for others. It was very different from some of his other roles, yet he inhabits this one a hundred percent. The Academy still owes his an award.

Rwandan genocide was a bleak, bloody, ruthless and violent page in African history, and Hutu massacring Tutsi and UN Forces also suffering casualties is no small thing to depict. A bad filmmaker would make this into a sweet melodrama with all the clichés and trite ideas. A good director has made this heavy story into a real must see foe everyone who wanna know about what genocide is and how awful vile people may behave. Terry George made a great work here, showing just one page of that tragic book - hotelier Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu, saving hundreds of both Tutsi and Hutu from immediate murder and shame. His actions are shown as actions not of a super hero, but a mere man of flesh and blood, but with guts and valor to withstand the threat, deceive the killers gently, buy the time, do all one can do in such gruesome situation, and thus save those people. Don Cheadle is a highlight of this as a main hero, and his dignity, vigor, skills and power shine all throughout the movie. Nick Nolte as an UN officer is another great stronghold here, brave and level-headed man of duty and word. Even the cameos of such stars as Joaquin Phoenix or Cara Seymour are absolute treat. And then, there are all those vile, brutal Hutu warriors with machete and guns, cold-blooded and intolerant. They are shown so deeply true that they awake sheer terror and shiver. This is a very good movie and deserves all the praise and attention. 10 out of 10

Hotel Rwanda was a well- made film, with some famous actors. It was interesting to see Hollywood actors in a film that seemed foreign, although it wasn't. I did not know very much about the Rwandan Genocide, or the history of other Genocides. Overall, I liked this film, but it was definitely not my favorite because I did not understand it as much as I did the other films; I found myself lost during some parts. My favorite character was Paul because he was so determined. Paul was such a big part in this movie, since he showed that he was not only a good person and hero to his family, but those living in the hotel.His issues made my stressors and issues in my life feel like nothing. Not only was dealing with the genocide, but he was living in the middle of it, AND had to manage an entire hotel! Although it was not his fault by any means, It must've killed him to see all of the families and their children sleeping in the hallways of his hotel every time he was trying to get by them. He must've felt some responsibility and guilt for them having to sleep on a cold floor, especially since he had a wife and children of his own he probably thought of when he saw these people. I also liked his wife, Tatiana a lot as well, because she was so devoted to Paul, and she seemed to keep him in line. I liked that she was a loving wife and mother, but also was not afraid to die for her kids or Paul, since she was so tough. Although we saw struggles of both Paul and Tatiana through their eyes, I would've liked to see more of the kids' struggles and how THEY viewed what was going on. I kind of wish that there was more interaction between the kids at the hotel and Paul and Tatiana's kids, because they were a big part in the movie too since they were so vulnerable. The difference in this movie compared to most of the others, was that there was not violence in the sense that the community was so troubled such as guns and gangs, but because of war and the genocide. So what is the crime really like in Kigali, Rwanda? The crime that is most prominent today is theft and vandalism, at a rate of about 36%, which is considered low.Next, at a rate of 26%, is drugs and people dealing drugs. Violent crimes are less common than petty theft. Interestingly, violent crimes are less likely to happen to a foreigner than a local, as well! A study done in 2015 shows that there has been an increase in robbery in homes, but it mostly happens when people are not in them. Overall, Kigali is a pretty safe place, compared to the other countries in the films we have watched.