Hotel Rwanda Genocide

Genocides happen when ethnic divisions become apparent. Many times, these ethnic divisions were due to colonization from people of different race. These cases are especially true in Africa when Europeans colonized their territory, with clear racial divisions between them (Gavin). These genocides go on because of nations acting on ignorance and refusing to help out the nations in turmoil, allowing the genocides to continue, without wasting their own resources. These nations purposefully ignoring the slaughter of people cause the nations to also be guilty of the genocide underway (“The Heart”). The genocide occurred in Rwanda in Central Africa during 1994. The decades of Tutsi oppression of Hutus and the assassination of President Habyarimana in 1994 led to the genocide in Rwanda.

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 movie Hotel Rwanda covers a recent tragedy in Africa. The focus is on an innkeeper, Paul Rusesabagina, who manages the Hotel Rwanda. The hotel hosts many international travelers and Paul knows many of the powerful people in the area. His connections leave him in the middle of the outbreak of the Rwandan Civil War. Many of the people he knows are directly involved in the conflict whether they be Rwandans or UN peacekeepers. The movie highlights several issues that affected the Rwandan people.

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.

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,

Like John Proctor in The Crucible, there too is a protagonist in the Rwanda Genocide – Paul Rusesabagina. They both display strength in standing up for what is right, they refuse to betray their friends and they both show great courage to do what is right, even if it means sacrificing themselves.

Hotel Rwanda tackles a recent event in history where the Hutu extremists of Rwanda initiated a terrifying campaign of genocide, massacring approximately

Over time, we see that he doesn’t only just care about his family, but his neighbors and other civilians too, no matter if they were Hutu or Tutsi. The UN colonel tells Paul he receives orders not to shoot and intervene in the commotion and to only take care of all non-Rwandan inhabitants and get them home safely since it’s a civil war. The UN Colonel says to Paul that the camps they have are chaotic and they’re only there to be peace keepers, not peace makers. Paul initially thought the western reaction would be tremendous as everyone would come to their aid seeing the suffering and butchering of tons of innocent people. As the violence was worsening, the UN received orders only to get foreign visitors and remove its forces without shooting, as this wasn’t their civil war to intrude in. The UN colonel thinks that Paul should be furious with him because the western countries and UN have chosen to forget about them. The colonel says he’s “not even a nigger” to Paul. This is saying that the world sees him and Rwandans as less than an African Americans and there’s no reason to help stop the conflict, especially because Rwanda has no natural resources like oil that other nations could gain from helping to resolve the conflict.

During this period of time, 10,000 people were murdered each day and more than 6 men, women and children were murdered every minute every day. This kept going for about 3 months.

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

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.

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.

Soon after, most of the white people that can legally leave Rwanda are forced to leave. Rwanda is being ignored by the rest of the world, and they are not receiving much help. The hotel has become a large refugee camp, and more people seem to keep coming. The hotel is almost overflowing with refugees. The supplies at the hotel are being used up very fast, so Paul and Gregoire, an employee at the hotel, leave to go get more food and other supplies needed. They go to George Rutagando and he tells them that soon all of the Tutsis will be dead. He sends them on a different road, and they drive into thick fog. The road starts to get very bumpy, and Paul tells Gregoire that they will drive into the river. Paul gets out of the car, and he sees hundreds of dead bodies lying on the road. Paul realizes that George sent them on that road purposely, and tells Gregoire that he must not say a word about what they saw.

When studying international relations there are six main theories to look at: realism, liberalism, Marxism, social constructivism, poststructuralism, and postcolonialism. These six theories take different approaches to explain various regimes, actions, and events that have occurred around the world throughout time. Not only do these six theories vary by regimes, but also by individuals. For instance, looking at the Rwandan genocide of 1994, it can be argued that the overarching theory to explain it is realism, but notions of liberalism, constructivism, and postcolonialism can also be seen from individuals experiencing it. These four theories are represented in the movie, “Hotel Rwanda.” “Hotel Rwanda” is based off of a true story of a man named Paul Rusesbagina and the hotel he manages, Hotel de Mille Collines. Although not everything depicted in the movie is a real-life event, one is still able to understand how world views can differ from person to person depending on what they were going through during that time. Concepts presented in the movie are concepts that tried to stick to the real events as much as they could. The movie clearly distinguishes the feud between the Tutsi tribe and the Hutu tribe within Kigali. Furthermore, characters Paul Rusebagina, Colonel Oliver, Georges Rutaganda, depict motivating world views. When viewing these three characters and Kigali as a whole, it is evident that not everyone experiencing the same event will view it in the same way.