An imperfect film but still a devastatingly emotional one that cries out to be seen (mild spoilers)

Rating: Null/10 (31 March 2005)

In 1994 tensions are high in Rwanda between the ruling Hutus and the Tutsis rebels while the UN tries to broken a peace agreement. This is of little interest to Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu with a Tutsis wife whose position within a leading hotel means he has to curry favour with many officials and smoothing over any potential problems at every turn. When the Hutu president is assassinated, a massacre of Tutsis begin  adults and children alike. With the UN unable to take action due to the indifference of the West the murders continue and Paul finds himself with a hotel, evacuated of important whites but full of Tutsis refugees as the Hutus seek to finish the job they started.
I'm not entirely sure how one can review this film with a clear mind because no matter how good or bad a film it is, it is near impossible not to left shaken by the events it depicts. The plot follows the story of Paul Rusesabagina, who pulled all the strings he could to protect the Tutsis refugees who wound up in his hotel during the genocide by the Hutus. In this regard we are given a way into the atrocities through this specific story and this is both a strength and a weakness in the telling. The strength is that it gives us a focal point and a point of emotional connection that we can relate to and see a human face in the way that the terrifying numbers do not. However the downside of this is that it makes the story smaller than it could have been and puts the scale of atrocities outside of our direct view for the majority. It also means that it produces a "happy" ending that leaves you with a sense of some respite (not to mention the obligatory "African" song). This was a problem for me because the film had succeeded in gutting me at points and I didn't want to be left with any upbeat note  I wanted to go away feeling just like the foreign photographer did; "f**king ashamed".
However considering what the film does well, it is petty and unfair to make a bit issue out of the fact that the narrative is occasionally a bit clunky and perhaps that the depiction of the genocide doesn't go far enough. Even without graphic violence and more than one scene of actual horror the film still sickened me to my stomach, had me almost shaking with anger and fear while at the same time failing to prevent tears rolling. Like many viewers I knew little more than a genocide occurred and couldn't have told you which side was killing the other  this is not ignorance on my behalf but just the fact that the West ignored this and stood by while it occurred while the media gave it little or no coverage. The film depicts this very well giving us enough horror and enough human emotion mixed with an understanding of the West's attitude to produce an impression of an event that is indefensible and truly, truly horrific. The characters are quite broadly painted but they do enough to give us an understanding of what occurred. While I do feel that the film could have shown more and been wider, the close focus on the hotel and the Rusesabagina's means that we are never far from understanding the true extent of horror and just how much of a reality death is  Paul does not discuss how his family will survive if the hotel is stormed, only how they will die in the least horrific way.
Matching the tone of the film are two performances that blow away everyone they were nominated with at the 2005 Oscars. Cheadle's accent in Ocean's 11 was the worst cockney this side of Mary Poppins but here he gets the accent and mannerisms just right and made me forget that he was an American. His character changes throughout the film and he copes with it really well, producing a character that is easy to get behind and provides a very human face to the story. Okonedo is superb and is almost impossible to watch without being moved to tears more than once. Nolte is effectively gruff although he is less a character than he is a symbol of how ineffective the UN was at the time. In a similar vein Phoenix is excellent in a small role although really I could have done with a few less starry cameos as they tended to distract from the main material. Outside of the lead two, the actors are not given as much to work with as the lead two but Cheadle and Okonedo are superb and match the emotional impact of the material.
Overall this is not a perfect film; it didn't quite go far enough and the focus on a small group tended to conceal the scale of the genocide. However this is a minor complaint because the film is devastatingly effective and is impossible to watch without feeling lost, helpless and utterly ashamed for our inaction. This is not an easy watch and will not be a fun night out for the audience but for many reasons it deserves as large an audience as possible.