"We must shame them into sending help."

Rating: 9/10 (26 October 2017)

It's films like this, whether one hundred percent historically accurate or not, that convince me that any suggestion of 'world peace' is merely a pipe dream. Here you have two warring tribes within the same country that can't get along with each other, resulting in death and bloodshed involving over a million people. And for what? When you come right down to it, what was the essential difference between Tutsi and Hutu? None that I could tell, and quite honestly, none that most of the evil Interhamwe could tell as well unless one admitted to being one or the other. It just makes me so angry.
And as for the United Nations, what exactly is their purpose if they can't take a principled stand in the face of genocide and slaughter? Any minute I was expecting Nick Nolte's character, General Oliver, to take matters into his own hands as he witnessed the persecution and beatings, but no. He was handcuffed by a set of principles laid down by distant bureaucrats with the threat of losing his command if he didn't follow orders.
It's hard not to wind up being cynical after seeing a treatment like this. I have a t-shirt that states 'Losing Faith in Humanity, One Person at a Time', and this film is the embodiment of that sentiment. The real life Paul Rusesabagina, portrayed by Don Cheadle, is a living saint in my book, having the courage and selflessness to look beyond his own family and personal circumstances, to put his life at risk to help both Tutsis and Hutus escape an impossible situation. His most powerful scene, in my estimation, was when Paul realized that the world community was not moving forward to help the Rwandans, challenging his hotel guests and the targeted Tutsis to reach out to anyone they personally knew who could possibly help their situation. It was such a travesty that he had to implore them all to 'shame the world into sending help'.