All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to stand by and do nothing.

Rating: 10/10 (9 May 2005)

***minor spoilers included***
All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to stand by and do nothing.
The genocide in Rwanda is a stain on every western nation that claims to hold to ideals of justice and freedom. While U.S. diplomats debated terminology, nearly one million Africans were systematically slaughtered. A self-crippled United Nations was forced to stand by and watch as even its own forces were murdered by hate-filled thugs. Is that a slam on the United Nations? No. Any problems that the United Nations has are directly linked to those member states that compose its ranks. If the UN was ineffectual in Rwanda it is because the United States, France, Germany and other member states made it so. The Bush administration has shown that a nation can get a job done if it wants it bad enough. In 1994, in Rwanda did anyone really want to stop the killing bad enough?
Why did this atrocity happen? It happened because, in the words of Colonel Oliver (Nick Nolte), the people of Rwanda were not even n***ers. They were Africans. They were worthless. That is what western nations thought of Rwandans in 1994. I would like to say that is not the case any longer, but I cannot. Here is it in the year 2005 and U.S. diplomats are still arguing about terminology and innocent people are being slaughtered in the Darfur in the Western Sudan. See, we can talk all day about how we as a nation stand against tyranny. But apparently, with many western nations, there is fine print. We stand against tyranny, restrictions apply, not valid in all 50 states, results may vary.
"This is ethnic cleansing, this is the world's greatest humanitarian crisis, and I don't know why the world isn't doing more about it." BBC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3549325.stm
Colonel Oliver would have answer for that question. It appears that not much has changed in the decade that has passed since the Rwandan genocide.
All right, I shall get off my soapbox now and get to the review of this movie. Hotel Rwanda is the true story of Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), a Hutu who risked his life and that of his family to save over 1200 tutsi refugees, by sheltering them in the hotel he managed.
The acting is superb and Cheadle shows just why he should be considered as one of the best actors of his generation. He plays Rusesabagina with a restrained dignity. Rusesabagina is a man who knows how to get things done. Bribes to officials are an everyday fact of life for him and he knows how to play the system to get what he needs for his hotel. When violence breaks out and the killing begins, he is forced to use his talents to not only save the life of a large group of refugees but the life of his own family eventually.
Joaquin Phoenix has a small but wonderfully played part as cameraman Jack Daglish who is able to shoot footage of some of the atrocities as they happen. When Daglish is evacuated along with the other Europeans in the hotel, he speaks for western nations, saying "I feel so ashamed." At least that is what the leaders of these nations should say. Nick Nolte's Colonel Oliver is a man trying against all odds to make a difference but who finds that the system knocks him down and stamps on him at every instance. Nolte plays him so that we almost start to feel the man's weariness just by looking at him.
You really cannot come away from this film and not be affected. If you come away not feeling a sense of outrage, you must be a republican. Even though the atrocities that are depicted in this film do not hold a candle to what actually happened, director Terry George is able to get us to feel the outrage, as well as the helplessness and the impending doom these people must have felt as they wait to see if they will be able to escape death by machete purchased for a great deal: 10 cents each from China. It is a slow-burn.
These days, the title of hero gets slung around far too often. I started this review with a paraphrased quote from Edmund Burke. Good men stood by and let this atrocity happen. In Rwanda one man, at least, did not stand by. For 1200 people the evil did not succeed. They survived because one man refused to give in to fear and hatred. One man did what was right. That man is a hero. That man is Paul Rusesabagina.  Deanna Carmichael  www.2-hours.com