Rating: PG13
Genre:
Drama
Theatrical Release: 12/22/2004(USA
Release Date: 04/12/2005
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD5.1/DDS
Run Time: 122 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Adult Situations, Adult Language
Distributor/Studio: MGM
Hotel Rwanda tackles one of the most horrifically ugly events in recent history, when the Hutu extremists of Rwanda initiated a terrifying campaign of genocide, massacring hundreds of thousands of minority Tutsis (who had been given power by the departed Belgian colonists), while the rest of the world looked on and did nothing.
Don Cheadle stars as
Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager at the fancy Les Milles Collines hotel in Kigali.
Paul is a Hutu, and a very successful businessman who smoothly greases the wheels, making powerful connections in all strata of Rwandan life. His wife,
Tatiana (
Sophie Okonedo of
Aeon Flux), is a Tutsi. She urges
Paul to use his influence to help local Tutsis, who are being harassed and beaten with increasing frequency, but
Paul will only use the political capital he's built up to help his own family, if and when they need it. Soon enough, the violence escalates, and the Hutus begin their genocide of the Tutsis. European guests and staff at the hotel are flown out of the country, and
Paul is left in charge. He finds that his conscience won't allow him to watch as the innocent are slaughtered, and before long, the hotel has become a well-appointed refugee camp.
Paul is seen as a traitor by some, putting his life in danger, and the predicament of his "guests" grows more precarious every day, but despite good intentions on the part of a journalist (
Joaquin Phoenix) and a UN peacekeeping colonel (
Nick Nolte), the rest of the world is not eager to intervene and stop the massacre.
Hotel Rwanda was directed by Irish filmmaker
Terry George (
Some Mother's Son), who co-wrote the script with
Keir Pearson.
~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
;)
