Powerful -- Not Just a Political Message

Rating: 9/10 (31 July 2005)

Hotel Rwanda is a great film. Yes, it has direct ties to a very heart-wrenching part of history, but what makes it powerful is the strong performance by Don Cheadle, an excellent supporting cast, great direction and storytelling.
I love movies like this. I very much enjoy movies with historical settings, even if their not always accurate (not a problem with this film). But anyone can make a drama based on historical events. What matters to film is the event gets the proper focus and circles around a handful of important characters. "Hotel Rwanda" does just that: it shows the Rwandan genocide as it occurs within a few square kilometers with the hotel as a focal point. More importantly it shows the tragedy through the eyes of a handful of people (if you focus solely on Cheadle and miss the viewpoint of the main character's wife and children you miss a great deal). This is how great historical dramas are made. Look at "Patton", one of the best WWII films ever made, not because it showed the action any better than any other WWII movie, but it focuses on a single, strong character brilliantly played. "Hotel Rwanda" is such a movie.
A great film, great performances (Cheadle was robbed of an Oscar on this one), and a powerful story. "Hotel Rwanda" should be shown in high schools across the country come fall.
9 out of 10. Sometimes it was hard to figure out which side characters were which (perhaps that was the point based on the whole Hutu-Tutsi past), but that is only a small nit. Otherwise the film is excellent.
Barky