How this movie differs from Schindler's List

Rating: 10/10 (10 May 2008)

Hotel Rwanda definitely is a top grade movie.But what makes this movie so special is the way the African unrest in 1994 was portrayed.Unlike Schindler's List(which is another 10 on 10 movie)this movie do not have too many violent scenes, but still manages to maintain the intensity of the subject matter.Schindler's List captures a lot of violence and has a negative way of building the tempo and intensity of the movie, whereas, Hotel Rwanda has a very positive way of building the tempo and intensity of the movie by concentrating on incidents where lives were saved.To site an example, there is a sequence where Paul(Don Cheadle) thinks his wife and children have jumped off the roof and killed themselves instead of getting butchered by Hutu machetes.However, later he found his family was safe.In this sequence, even if it were shown that his family was killed, it would have added to the intensity and drama which was building up.But that would have been the negative approach.Another such sequence is when Paul finds his son behind a bush all covered up in blood.Here also it could have shown that it was his son who was attacked.But later it reveals that it was not the boy's blood,it was the blood of another victim killed in front of the boy.Here also ,once again,violence was minimized, but without losing the impact and the viewer can always feel the tension and horror going around.Also, instead of showing the incident on screen,there is a conversation between Paul and a Red Cross worker where she narrates a horrible incident she has seen: an orphan child from her orphanage butchered to death in front of her eyes.This passive way of creating the savage environment of the riot is commendable as this makes the movie open to people who do not like explicit violence.The movie actually used just one incident where a Paul Russessabagina saves 1300 people with the riot in its background. Unlike Schindler's List, it id not use the riot itself with the main incident as a part of it.Personally, I feel this movie is something that is bound to touch a viewer's heart and something which lingers in your mind for a long long time after you have watched the movie.Hat's off! 10 on 10!