Good On All Levels

Rating: 10/10 (25 January 2005)

Don Cheadle has been operating just below the critical radar for many years. Known to many in supporting parts, his first starring role in a major film ("Hotel Rwanda") is incontrovertibly a tour de force. Much ado is made in the critical press of the likeness of "Hotel" to "Schindler's List". Be that as it may this is a welcome addition to filmdom, a veritable eye-opener with a distinctive air.
Filmed entirely in South Africa, director Terry George captures the feel of Kigali, a city in the center of a country in the center of Africa. Little of the veld, the jungle or desert is seen here; this is a country of hills savanna about the size of Maryland supporting nearly eight million people (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/rw.html); but that Rwanda lost upwards of one million in a widespread campaign of genocide in '94 clearly demonstrates the sheer horror of the 100 days between April and July that year.
As events unfold, Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle) is manager of a fine establishment (Hotel des Milles Collines) that is poised on the edge of an unbelievable maelstrom of events  the death of the President, calls for unconscionable murder of civilians of the wrong (Tutsi) alignment and civil war. Amid the escalating chaos and insanity of the situation stands a kind calm soul thrust into such responsibility as cannot be imagined.
And imagination is the key. Throughout the story we find ourselves musing over the fact that we don't know such chaos; being pulled from your car to show your papers, seeming government endorsement of mass killing, neighbors ratting on neighbors, war within the city, displaced children, roving bands of thugs, the list of horrors goes on.
Things never unfold that black and white decisions can be made in such madness. And so we can only imagine we would behave or react as does Paul- his solid and basic goodness is what saves him, his family and more than a thousand he touches while Rwanda implodes. As each new decision must be made  where to put some orphans, how to handle a desultory staff, how to continue the flow of supplies into the hotel, how to handle his family, how to react to demands of local political and law enforcement, we watch him spin, not on a downward but an upward spiral, rising above all those about him.
Director George says that "...but I think what we set out to do is tell this modern day African hero story in a way that ordinary people will relate to him, and see that if they can tap into a moral courage, that they could possibly be Paul. He's not a superhero, he's not somebody outside the conceptualization of ordinary people. That was the primary objective, and also to show just the strength of his love story and the family unit, and then this thriller element of the whole story itself. And finally, the political quagmire and the intensity and enormity of the genocide itself. And I think on all those levels, we've done pretty good." (http://movies.radiofree.com/interviews/hotelrwa_terry_george.shtml).
Good indeed. After you've viewed this must-see film, view these sites to learn more: Radio Télévision Libre de Mille Collines (RTLM), which incited much of the trouble (http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/dossiers/rwanda-h.html); a photo of Paul and his wife (http://www.filmstew.com/Content/Article.asp?ContentID=10480); and interview with Don Cheadle (http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/06/don.cheadle/) the studio's site, which is quite a good source for background (http://www.mgm.com/ua/hotelrwanda/main.html) and a very nice interview with Don Cheadle and Paul Rusesabagina (http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/574/574554p3.html) that illustrates how some Hollywood touches were applied. But in true Paul R. fashion, no protest is heard.
Rating: Four Stars.