Don't Forget to Check Into this Hotel!

Rating: 10/10 (15 April 2015)

A decade after tribal extremists in Rwanda organized a blitzkrieg of ethnic killing while the world minced its words, Hotel Rwanda spilled out on the screen, aiming to remind us of evils hurriedly forgotten and lessons still unlearnt.
The film picks up just before the presidential assassination. Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle) is a Hutu hotel manager, married to a Tutsi, who never underestimates the value of a bribe, greasing the wheels of commerce and police protection with the occasional bottle of single malt. When the Hutu president is killed by Tutsi rebels, Hutu extremists take to the streets with machetes, slaughtering every Tutsi 'cockroach' they see. Paul finds the four-star hotel he manages turned into an impromptu refugee camp, as Tutsi refugees and their families rush in, seeking out what little protection he can offer. He trusts, still however, in the goodwill of the West. He believes that his activities will be temporary, and that rescue is on its way. But he doesn't immediately grasp what is happening: the West, catching the odd news report, have dismissed the genocide as 'just a bunch of Africans killing each other again', before flipping channels. The UN force, led by a self-disgustedly impotent Colonel Oliver (Nick Nolte) does what it can to help but it soon becomes clear that Paul will have to rely on his own resilience and back catalog of favors to keep as many of the Tutsi alive as he can.
Filled with indelible, haunting images, Hotel Rwanda is a moving and provocative film that shows how one man can make a difference, even when the evils and horrors around him appear unsurmountable. The film is beautifully understated, eschewing sentimentality in favor of raw emotion and letting the story tell itself. Director Terry George handles the potentially suffocating subject matter with a grace and subtlety that breathes precious life into a heart- wrenching story about the wretched effects of hateful propaganda and an outside world concerned with capitalism over humanity. George never sugarcoats any of the violence - the violence comes frequently and unexpectedly, making for a lasting impression of horrific imageries (Watch Paul floundering among a scattered sea of corpses that he'd unwittingly been driving over in the dawn fog).
Knuckling down to a native accent, Don Cheadle gives a beautifully restrained tour-de-force performance as a singular voice of reason at the epicenter of the carnage. The actor transforms from suave schmoozer of militia leaders, to protective family man, to a reluctant savior who's forever struggling to maintain his fragile composure, all the while sidestepping every histrionic outburst you'd expect. Sophie Okonedo pulls out an equally stirring portrayal of Paul's Tutsi wife, Tatiana while bigger names like Joaquin Phoenix and Nick Nolte - effortlessly energize the smaller roles.
All in all, this is a film of rare courage and imperishable heart that deserves to be seen.