"All By Myself"

Rating: 9/10 (20 November 2007)

"There will be no rescue no intervention for us. We can only save our selves," said Paul, the man who inspires the movie Hotel Rwanda to his refugees as he observes the rest of the world witness the horrifying situations that Rwandan Tutsis are in and did nothing.
Hotel Rwanda, a movie written by Keir Pearson and directed by Terry George, is based on a true horrifying event that happened in Rwanda and the attempt of one man, a hotelier, to save lives. The movie that is a drama and not a definite none-fiction documentary testifies to the power of one individual to make a positive difference. The movie opened with a radio station broadcast stating a high hatred towards Tutsi's: "the Tutsi were collaborators for the Belgian colonists  they are cockroaches. They are murderers. Rwanda is our Hutu land..." This broadcast takes us through the entire span of the genocide, which started in 1994 as a result of the Hutu president being murdered, which angered the Hutu military /Interahamwe. The movie which had an extraordinary balance between portraying massacres and telling a heroic family story had also space to place a mirror in order to reflect the political, social, international and religious daily practices of the Rwandans at the moment.
Paul, who turned the 4 star Hotel into a refugee camp, was played by Don Cheadle. Don in his other movies always gives the best performance you expect from one actor. However, on this one we witness an extra ordinary talent being portrayed. He is commanding and a quick thinker as he bribes the force that one day might burst and overflow what he cherished for a long time. At one scene, Don faces Rutaganda, who controlled the militia and was the food provider for the hotel. At the moment he witness this brutal inhuman thing but Don who had to keep his dignity, was also able to save his 1200 refuges by doing what he had came for.
Sophia as Paul's wife Tatiana had also done an OK job on her performance. She was the supporter and the lover of her man, but still too concerned for the protection of her family. Nick Nolte, as the UN peace keep, dose a marvelous job on presenting a considerate man who want to do more but his two hands are chafed by above force outside of Rwanda. In one powerful scene in a result of frustration, Nick blames racism for ignorance displayed by the western, which leaves the audience to say is that so? I meant people do things so they would get something out of it. May be Nick said it out of shame and gilt but the truth is by helping Rwandans, no one gets any benefit. No oil, No gold, nothing other than saving people's lives. That is what seems to be the reason.
The over all idea of the Genocide occurring is accurate, but as viewer I would avoid believing some of the scenes shown in the movie just like any other Hollywood movie. For instance at one important scene we see that a militia group how hated the Tutits and had no mercy for them, being convinced to take money instead in less than a minute. That seems unrealistic. So are some other things in the movie. According to www.fair field mirror.com/media the character of Colonel Oliver had not given the credit for his role trying to stop the violence.
The script of the movie is well done. When you watch, the movie there are no single moments that you don't believe the conversations; they have a real African accent and look. The pictures also make it believable except at one point the director chooses a verbal scene instead of a picture when the Red Cross worker described the horrible seen she had witnessed. Which seems that he did it for the purpose of keeping the theme of the movie, which is showing the family struggle instead of showing the horror that is happening.
George almost never shows violence pictures. There is no man getting shot or blood running on the floor but through out the movie you would feel like you had seen a almost a horror movie. The secret seems to be the effect of the music. In the movie, about 15-music track had been played and each with different group and individual and of courses each having a different effect too. The sounds sometimes seems like they are attached by a strong force with the image on the screen! Some of the music sometimes takes you to place that is horrifying and sorrowful and certainly some of the music and sounds, like the radio voice, seems overwhelming because it is disembodied and seems to exist everywhere. But the effect is what expected. Will some music like Mwali We! Provokes you to think to feel human and to care when the rhythm force you to move your body and the picture of kids dancing and imagination that someone out side that door is dying puts the guilt on you. Over all the music requires a repeated listening, but it also raise different feelings to the listener as tragedy and sorrow occurred simultaneously.
Overall, as I said before the movie holds a perfect balance between portraying massacres and displaying a heroic family story. To my thinking, this movie has the best pictures and carries a very important life lesson. I promise you might like it, as I enjoy watching it several times searching for an answer for a question raised by Dube / Tutsi ;"why are people so cruel?" Who knows if you watch it, you might find why?