hotel 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

Skin color is not what should define people, yet in so many cases millions of people suffer from discrimination. In two movies, “Rabbit-Proof Fence” by Doris Pilkington Garima and “Hotel Rwanda” by Terry George that dealt with african american people who had to go through the struggles of not fitting the “perfect” image of people around them. The first movie, “Rabbit-Proof Fence” deals with three young girls who are taken away from their family to Moore River. The oldest girl, Molly, leads their escape back home. The second movie, “Hotel Rwanda” is about the Hutus and Tutsis fighting against each other. It also portrays how the characters had to stand together through hard times. Sadly, both movies portray people who are different being treated unfairly. The two are summarized and have both similarities and differences.

Hotel Rwanda is a tragic movie that puts a face on the conflict that was largely ignored by the western world. It graphically shows the results of various conflicts and the results of racial prejudice caused by historical actions. It also demonstrates that racism can occur outside the ‘normal’ black white conflicts. Hotel Rwanda falls short when giving an in-depth explanation of the causes of the war. However, a little research and critical reading bring a greater understanding of the film and the suffering of

I usually dislike historical movies because I simply do not understand some of them very well to have a clear opinion of what happened in a certain place, or I find them quite boring to watch. However, since I know about what happened in the Rwandan genocide, I found this movie interesting and have a lot of opinions to share or analyze. I think the film displays the brutality that is in some people’s hearts perfectly. I also think I can relate the history of the genocide to current situations around the world like in Syria, or Yemen. These two countries do not have the same history as the Rwandan genocide, however the fact that there are many fundamentalists involved in the killing of numerous people in the three countries relates them ideally. Therefore, I enjoyed watching “Shake Hands with the Devil’, because of the relation it had to current events happening in the

Another theme depicted in the film is torture and slavery faced by the Africans during the colonial period.

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.

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.

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

I thought that the footage of white colonists was the most disturbing part of this film, in particular the two missionaries who settled in Tanzania in order to start the religious culture of Christianity in the community. The couple uses Christianity as an excuse to think the natives are barbaric or unholy for practicing polygamy, even though the bible does not actually support monogamy. This example displays Fanon’s ideas that the colonizer “does not call the natives to God’s ways but to the ways of the white man.” (Fanon, 41)

Do you agree that racism played a role in the international community's failure to act to stop the genocide, as the UN colonel says? The film makes no mention of other possible contributing factors, such as the disastrous U.S. humanitarian intervention in Somalia in 1993, less than a year before, which ended after a U.S. helicopter was shot down and the bodies of U.S. soldiers were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. Does this justify the U.S. and the UN's refusal to intervene?

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.

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.

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.