The movie is based on a true story about what had happen in Rwanda 1994. Paul Rusesabagina is the manager of the Sabena Hotel in Kigali. He lives happily with his wife, brother-in-law, and their children. One day that happy place they all knew changed for the worse. Massacre struck, the Hutu tribe took over after assassinating the president which cause great calamity to the land. The country went through a phase of madness, it seems as if the world turn their backs on the people of Rwanda. While being under arrest, Paul took quick notice that the people were dying left, right and center. He was forced to take matters into his own hands and care for his family and neighbors. The people went and took refuge for safety at the hotel that Paul …show more content…
He told his wife who is behind him that she should go inside and she mustn’t be outside witnessing this act. Avery frightened Tatiana tells him that he must do something but he refused. In his culture, women are second class citizen whereby they know that their husbands do not take any orders and instructions from them.
Typical women, the issue of the neighbor being arrested was still fresh in Tatiana’s mind. In the middle of the night, she began to question her husband about why would they arrest Victor and that he does not engage in politics. Avery tired Paul says with an attitude “who knows, maybe someone said that he is a rebel spy.” Tatiana would not let the issue go then she said “maybe you can call one of your army friends.” Paul responded “it wouldn’t help and I cannot help them.” Then he goes on about how he works all day to please Diplomats and Tourists to store up favors so that when they need help he can call on them. He continues to tell her to leave this situation to his better judgement.
In the hotel bar, we get to see how cultural shock plays out. David is an American reporter assigned to report about what is happening in Rwanda. He met Benedict, the finest journalist in Kigali an expert on the subject. David asked him to explain the difference between Hutu and Tutsi so Benedict responded by saying “according to the Belgians colonist, they believed that the Tutsi were tall and elegant. They were the ones who created division between the two
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.
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,
This movie Directed by Paul Haggis who also directed Academy Award Winning "Million Dollar Baby" and had also won an Academy Award for this movie as well puts a twisted story in this film. This movie is trying to symbolize what goes on in the world today in regards to racism and stereotypes. He tries to make a point on how societies view themselves and others in the world based on there ethnicities. This movie intertwines several different people's lives, all different races, with different types of beliefs. Such ethnicities include Caucasians, African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Middle Eastern. This movie includes conflicts on both sides of the picture from cops and criminals as well
In Hotel Rwanda there are two sides to the community. The Tutsi and the Hutu, a division made by Belgian colonizers. Apparently the lighter and taller Rwandans were treated better in the duration of the Belgians visit, these were the Tutsi. But after leaving, this conflict continued on for the rest 20th century and well into the 21st. But to some, the division is pointless, given that they were and will always will
Hotel Rwanda tackles a recent event in history where the Hutu extremists of Rwanda initiated a terrifying campaign of genocide, massacring approximately
The Europeans regarded Hutu and Twa (about 3% of the population) as inferior to Tutsi. Sixty years of such prejudicial fabrications inflated Tutsi egos inordinately and crushed Hutu feelings, which coalesced into an aggressively resentful inferiority complex.”
When Belgium took control of Rwanda in 1916 the Hutu’s and the Tutsi’s had a slight differentiation of the ethnic groups, the Hutu’s were farmers and the Tutsi’s were cattle herders. Though they both spoke the same language and had similar traditions. The Tutsi were seen as a higher class of people, only because it took more money to buy cattle, but it was possible to have upward movement in society through changes in jobs or through intermarriage (Jones).
“Seldom in history has a once-dominant group suffered so terrible a reversal of fortune as the Tutsi of Rwanda”- Robin Hallet. The event that Robin Hallet is referring to is the Rwandan Genocide, the “genocidal mass slaughter” of the Tutsi (the minority group in Rwanda) and a few Hutu (the dominant group in Rwanda) by “members of the Hutu majority,” which resulted in at least 1 million Rwandan deaths. The Rwandan Genocide was indirectly caused by European colonists; severely damaged relations between the two ethnic groups, almost irreparably; and had a destructive effect on the survivors of the genocide.
Before Rwanda became an independent African run country, it was under Belgian control. In the 1930s Belgium imposed indirect rule and put Tutsis in control of government. The Belgians did not invent the two ethnic groups, Hutu and Tutsi, but colonial intervention enforced a new meaning for the two ethnicities and thus engrained a hierarchy among the Rwandans . The Tutsis could be determined by their taller slighter build, lighter skin and thinner noses; in conclusion, they were the whitest Africans . By 1994 the two groups were visibly indistinguishable because of mixed parentage. This is portrayed in the movie Hotel Rwanda when a journalist asks two women what ethnicity they are; he discovers that one is Hutu and the other Tutsi. The journalist replies that the women could be twins. In the 1950s the newly established United Nations began to pressure Belgium to vacate Rwanda. Belgium introduced reforms to increase Hutu representation in politics, so from the 1950s until 1962, when Rwanda achieved independence a Hutu movement was born. The Hutu movement was gaining momentum and national recognition; the violence conducted during this period forced thousands of Tutsis to leave the country. In 1961 Belgium sponsored the federal election and a Hutu man, Gregoire Kayibanda was elected to power. This Hutu revolution excluded Tutsis from government and military. Kayibanda’s successor,
The movie is focused around the life of a man by the name of Tony Montana and depicts his rise to power from a political refugee from Cuba to a drug warlord. In the course of the movie, Tony Montana also
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.