A fatuous effort at dramatizing something more dramatic

Rating: 3/10 (29 July 2007)

I was disappointed in every aspect of this movie. The events that were supposedly depicted, including the background of genocide in Rwanda, were insipidly portrayed, pure Hollywoood hokum. The casting was mediocre, especially Nick Nolte, but also including most of the smaller parts, although Don Cheadle and his wife were portrayed competently. It was an obvious attempt to take a single series of events--the actions of this hotel manager--and parlay them into a typical movie format, when the Rwandan genocide deserved, indeed deserves, much more significant treatment. The one redeeming feature of the film was its portrayal of the cowardly and bigoted manner in which the West dealt with the tragedy, but even that was done without impact. Not a major motion picture at all. A major disappointment.