A thousand hills, a million kills

Rating: Null/10 (22 January 2005)

The title "Hotel Rwanda" is somewhat misleading and a misnomer. No actual Hotel Rwanda figures in the story, which centers rather around the Hotel Mille Collines (so named because Rwanda is known as "the land of a thousand hills").
In another sense, however, the title is entirely apt and appropriate, since what happens at the hotel is a microcosmic reproduction of what happened in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, and throughout the country in 1994 -- the genocide of one million members of the Tutsi ethnic minority, as well as moderate majority Hutus.
"Hotel Rwanda" sketches in the background to the bloodshed without overloading us with expository material. It manages to explain, in a few quick strokes, the legacy of colonialism and ethnic division that led to tragedy on a national scale.
Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle) is the Rwandan manager of the Belgian-owned Hotel Mille Collines. He finds himself in the midst of a dangerous, violent and explosive situation, and faced with the personification of evil and the heart of darkness. His response is initially to hope that the storm will be short-lived. Ultimately, however, he must react and respond and become a force for the triumph of goodness and love. He comes to realize that it is not enough to protect his wife and children, his family. He must be the guardian angel of all who turn to him for help, and embrace the family of man. As the film's tag line aptly puts it, "When the world closed its eyes, he opened his arms." "Hotel Rwanda" suitably conveys the horror of genocide, without erring on the side of excess, of gore and bloodletting. The film balances this horror with the beauty of love and kindness, devotion to duty and a sense of responsibility. Moreover, the film shows how, even in a maelstrom of madness, human beings keep their sanity and perspective through the gift of gentle humor.
The Eagles' song "Hotel California" says, "You can check in any time you like, but you can never leave." But "Hotel Rwanda" leaves us with the feeling of hope that even the darkest night of inhumanity gives way to the brightness and warmth of a brand new day. And, as the film suggests, ten years after the nightmare of genocide, Rwanda is indeed seeing the sun of justice once again.