Emotions In The Film 'Hotel Rwanda'

In the midst of the Rwandan genocide one man had the courage to house over 1,000 refugees to save them from the Hutu. Paul Rusesabagina put his life on the line to save refugees in which he owed nothing to them. In Rwanda, Africa Paul Rusesabagina housed 1,268 Tutsi refugees in the hotel he was manager at. In the following there will be background information on the civil war/genocide, also there will be background on Paul and where he came from before Hotel Rwanda. Hotel Rwanda was an event where the hotel manager let Tutsi refugees stay in the hotel to hide from the Hutu, trying to kill the Tutsi, putting his own life on the line for the safety of others.

While the book “Left to Tell” by Immaculée Ilibagiza and the movie “Hotel Rwanda” by Terry George shows its share of similarities, both portray the Rwandan Massacre of 1994 in diversified ways. First, while both characters share similarities portraying the perspective of the genocide, they also show some major differences in the point of view as the main character in the movie was a hotel manager while the other main character from the book was a young, Tutsi woman. Also, while they face similar conflicts and hardships, both have their own personal field of adversities to face.

It is known that after coming back from wars, the commonality would be that many become traumatized. For Leroy Sievers, the only war that ever gave him nightmares was the genocide of Rwanda. He describes his experience in great detail of how the entire area reeked of death and how a stranger died at his feet, the last thing he saw was his face. He explains how many, after watching Hotel Rwanda, were distraught, asking the questions of why no one did anything to stop it or why they had not heard about it before. His reply was merely that there was broadcasts that occurred that they had just not paid any attention to. Most of this article is describing the horrors that he witnessed in much detail. He witnesses people literally dropping dead.

Maria Kizito and Hotel Rwanda are true accounts of two isolated events that took place in Rwanda during a genocide in 1994 where nearly one million innocent people lost their lives. Maria Kizito is a play that focuses mainly on the trial of a catholic nun, Maria Kizito, who was charged and found guilty of promoting and facilitating the murder of seven thousand refugees who sought shelter from Hutu extremist at a local convent (Kizito 178). Whereas Hotel Rwanda focuses on the life of Paul Rusesabagina, a Rwandan manager, and Hutu, at a Belgian-owned luxury hotel in Rwanda 's capital, who saved not only himself and his family but also 1,268 refugees from the same extremist. Despite their differences in location and characters, the play and the film, both develop narratives that tell the same story about how the genocide in Rwanda is a direct result of colonization, how the international community failed to intervene, and that a plane crash ignited in what was the worst genocide after the holocaust. Before analyzing how Maria Kizito and Hotel Rwanda depict Colonialism, it is important to first understand the history of Colonialism in Rwanda.

The continent of Africa has been continually engaged in civil, tribal and cross national conflicts from colonial independence up until present day. What historians regard as the most ‘efficient genocide’ in history, occurred in a mere 100 days in the small central African country of Rwanda. The Hutus and the Tutsis, two ethnic groups within Rwanda, have been at continual unrest for the past half a century. During the 100 day massacre of 1994, a murder occurred every two seconds; resulting in 18% of the Tutsi population being killed. A decade after the war, in 2004, the film Hotel Rwanda was released. The film followed the story of a Hutu man; Paul Rusesabagina as he housed over 1200 Tutsi refugees in his hotel. The Hotel De Milles

What is it like to be a hero? In the movie, Hotel Rwanda, the protagonist, Paul Rusesabagina, is more than just a hotel manager in Rwanda. Throughout the film, he proves to be an accepting, heroic, and caring man who has impacted the lives of many individuals and families in Rwanda.

The director mentions many times that the people of Rwanda were alone in this battle. All other countries had abandoned the citizens and the few soldiers remaining had very little power. Colonel Oliver breaks down while he is being served a drink by Paul and blatantly tells him that his people will not be helped because not only are they black they are “African”. Seeing the way Paul and his people were abandoned will show young viewers how serious racism is in our society and how much worse it was only a few years ago. When soldiers attempt to over throw the hotel Paul receives help from the hotel owner in Europe but even though the owner wanted to do more the French refused to intervene and help rescue anyone from the hotel.

Rwanda is a country located in the middle of the African continent. The two ethnic groups present in the country lived in peace under their monarch until the arrival of Europeans. The Belgians arrival into Rwandan is what split the two ethnic groups of the Tutsi and Hutus, making them identify themselves with ID cards. This caused tension between the two groups as the Belgians favored the ethnic Tutsi, and made them the head of the government. Decade’s later Hutu extremists would take over the government and have revenge on the Tutsi. The new government would send out broadcasts calling on Hutus to kill their friends and neighbors. The Rwandan genocide would become the worst genocide to ever happen in Africa and one of the worst in the world. Today Rwanda’s recovery is surprisingly fast with the help of multiple nations and organizations. Rwanda’s recovery is nothing short of a miracle and is an amazing story of a war between two peoples.

On the lines of many movies subjected on ethnic discrimination and massacre, Hotel Rwanda focuses on Paul Rusesabagina and his family in Rwanda during the genocide of the Tutsis by the ruling Hutu tribe in 1994. The movie incorporates many aspects its subject in a thrilling and sentimental fashion. New York Times critic Stephan Holding’s problem is that the portrayal of violence and sentiments are not accurate. Considering the fact that this movie is meant cover a wide range of audience and its subject, the proportions of violence and sentiment are not balanced for the purpose of creating the most impact and arouse its viewers to the

In summary, Hotel Rwanda is about the mass genocide of the Tutsi ethnic group in Rwanda during the mid-90’s. It is estimated that nearly one million people were killed in the efforts of the Hutu people to completely eliminate the Tutsi population. The tension began because of the Belgium government colonizing Rwanda, and them putting the Tutsi people originally in charge. Later on the Hutu people took control of the government and were getting back at the Tutsis for the years of oppression. With rising tension, the Rwandan president, who was a Hutu, was going to sign a peace treaty to allow the two groups to live in harmony. However, he was assassinated by a “Tutsi rebel” which caused mass chaos, resulting in this mass genocide. A hotel, managed by Paul, who had great authority with the United Nations and the Rwandan Army, was able to protect 1,100 moderate Hutus and Tutsis from being killed by the Hutu rebels. Multiple times throughout the film the forces broken into the hotel complex and greatly threatened the life of the refugees. With the protection from the UN and bribery, Paul was able to protect the refugees and get the them to safely in Tanzania.

The severity of this film in specific shows how there was no life to Rwanda after the genocide was over. Thousands of people died daily because of a simple social or economic divide that the Hutus took very seriously. The monstrous souls that the ‘rebel’ Hutus had, destroyed countless Tutsis and their lives. This specific portion of history is highly significant to warrant a film for many reasons. One is because it shows the vicious way people were living because of an economic divide that was created between them. Many people go through social or economic divides in their everyday lives that encounter them to live in an inhumane world. “Shake Hands with the Devil”, displays how simple conflicts can turn into murderous actions between people. There are many severe situations in the world that are currently happening or had already happened because of division of color, income, or social status. What makes this movie of the history of the Rwandan genocide different is that characters that play in it clarify how people are extremely selfish, helpless, or hopeless in the world we live in. In the movie, there are many situations when the peacekeepers or Dalliare is seeking help from external countries who refused to serve him with any sort of aid. Therefore,

The 2004 film, Hotel Rwanda, directed by Terry George, highlights the brutality of the Rwandan Genocide between the Hutu and the Tutsi peoples. The results of the conflict were the death of almost one million Rwandan citizens, mostly Tutsi. Initially, the conflict arose when Belgium internationals came into Rwanda and gave power to the Tutsi, who were lighter skinned and taller, which led to extremist Hutu groups to arise in response to this unfairness. Ultimately, this uprising and forming of the two distinct groups was heavily influenced by propaganda, political corruption, and groupthink, and all of which essentially resulted in the huge tragedy.

The film Hotel Rwanda was about how Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu, who also owns a hotel called Hotel Des Mille Collines, was living a happy and normal life with his wife (who is a Tutsi) and three children until Hutu military forces initiate a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the tutsi minority, Paul was obligated to allow refugees to take shelter in his hotel. Paul struggles alone to protect the Tutsi refugees. The differences between the Hutus and the Tutsis, is the Hutus are poor people and the Tutsis are wealthier. My feelings of me watching the film was that I was sad and mad. I was sad because when Paul only had the choice to pick four people to not get shot and he of course chose his family, but it was still sad because there was all those other people. At the end the Paul told the guy that he can give him money, jewelry, etc, in exchange for all of them and he accepted the deal, so he ended up saving that group of families including his. It was also sad because the kids were watching people getting killed right in front of them. What was more sad is how some those people getting killed were the kids families members. I was mad because I didn't like to see the kids crying especially since all of this was going on when they didn’t deserve to go through this.

A group of Rwandan people known as the Hutu want to eliminate another Rwandan group, the Tutsi, and they get very close to succeeding. About one million Tutsi people were murdered in the Rwandan Genocide in a time span of 100 days. Hotel Rwanda is a movie about a hotel manger, Paul, that saves a thousand Tutsi people by keeping them in his hotel. He saves the refugees, mostly, by giving the Hutu rebels his money and alcohol in return for leaving the Tutsi people alone. The movie is trying to send the message that helping others is equally important as helping one’s family.

Hotel Rwanda is a film directed by Derek George that tackles one of the most shockingly disturbing events in recent history, when the Hutu radicals of Rwanda initiated a frightening crusade of genocide, slaughtering thousands of minority Tutsis while people from other countries did nothing and acted oblivious to what was going on in Rwanda. George vividly adapted Hotel Rwanda in a way that the viewer from beginning to end saw the effects of genocide, political corruption, and the consequences of violence. Depicted in the early 1990s , the views on ethnic conflict in Rwanda and the sequence of events is really descriptive and sometimes hard to watch as George digs deep into what happened in Rwanda. The early scenes in town set the scene amazingly for what’s to come throughout the film and gives us vivid insight on the views and social standing of Rwanda in the 1990’s. Don Cheadle portrays Paul Rusesabagina in the movie playing the hotel manager, his wife in the movie played by Sophie Okonedo is a Tutsi and wants to help when the violence ensues. Their marriage throughout the movie supplies a great sub plot detailing how a relationship can stand through turmoil.