Rusesabagina's List

Rating: 7/10 (25 April 2005)

I do not intend to sound sarcastic by my above 'one-line-summary'; for if the real life Paul Rusesabagina, a 'Hutu', did the things he was portrayed to do, to save hundreds of 'Tutsi', then indeed there is a comparison with great people of conscience like Oscar Schindler.
The story is that of the infamous 'ethnic cleansing' of minority Tutsi's by their nationalist rivals, the Hutu's. The film also cleverly weaves in the reasons for the deep ethnic hatred between these peoples, by ordinary conversations between locals and European visitors.
The violence is not nearly as bad as one might expect. In fact, the actual news reel footage that the world 'witnessed' at the time of this genocide was far, far worse than the movie portrays.
The film will rivet you to the screen, as you follow 'Paul' beg, borrow, steal and bribe to save the lives of the 'hotel guests' Well worth seeing, a little bit 'over' on the acting but smartly sensitive to the brutal violence that Hollywood so often turns out, (even in its' jests) just a wee bit to long but,still, a story that need to be told, and more importantly needs to be heard.