Hotel Rwanda

Don Cheadle stars as Paul Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda.

Herald rating * * * * * 

Rwanda, Central Africa, 1994: a million members of the Tutsi tribe are massacred by the rival Hutu tribe. The world watches and does nothing. That is history. This is the story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who saved 1200 people caught up in the crisis by doing his job - extremely well.

Rusesabagina is a Hutu, married to a Tutsi, Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo). Trained in Europe, he manages the four-star Hotel Des Milles Collines in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, and knows that his job means bending the rules, finding his way around delicate situations, keeping the customers extremely satisfied in the tiny, impoverished, riven nation.

Riven because Rwanda, like so many African "nations", was formed by a European colonial power - in this case Belgium - to suit its economic and political ends, not along the continent's traditional tribal boundaries.

Here, centuries-long enemies were forced into the same "country". Under the Belgians, the Tutsi ruled and enslaved or murdered Hutu. In independent Rwanda, the roles are reversed.

The UN peacekeepers in Rwanda are led - in the movie - by Colonel Oliver (Nick Nolte), a composite character largely based on Romeo Dalliare, the Canadian peacekeeping hero.

He sees what is happening, tells the politicians back in New York, asks for help and is ignored.

In a parallel, Rusesabagina tells his corporate headquarters in Brussels and is ignored. The two men ignore their superiors to save the people they see as their responsibility.

Rusesabagina is primarily worried about his endangered family, billeted in the hotel. He calls in the favours that he has garnered over the years. He hides people in the hotel. Meanwhile the Colonel chooses to ignore his orders and do what he can, on the spot, to save lives.

With remarkable performances from the two leads, both under-playing their roles as ordinary men in an extraordinary situation, Hotel Rwanda is far more than mere entertainment. Essentially true to the facts, it's a film - and a lesson - that no one of us in the global community can afford to miss, that all of us should be ashamed to remember. Certainly, our leaders should be.

DVD features are strong: director Terry George and the real Paul Rusesabagina discuss the situation in Rwanda, the background, and how the massacre unfolded. Cheadle has a separate commentary.

The 28min making-of is well-produced and passionate. Return to Rwanda follows the hotelier and his wife, Tatiana, as they return to the hotel for the first time since the genocide. Much of this was shot on camcorder and the couple's strong accents make this difficult, but compelling, viewing. 

Hotel Rwanda is available on DVD, video rental August 17