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Hotel Rwanda Movie Review

Hotel Rwanda is a 2004 drama film directed by Terry George and starring Don Cheadle. It’s a familiar, but very well acted and emotionally powerful film.

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“Please don’t let them kill me.

I promise I won’t be Tutsi anymore“

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Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager, leads a happy life with his wife and children in Rwanda. He displays immense courage by saving the lives of many helpless refugees during a communal war. This movie was hugely important for teaching and/or reminding Western audiences of the Rwandan genocide, which saw over half a million people killed and the world pretty much ignored these horrendous events as if they hadn’t happened at all. The movie is very commercial and I will get to that momentarily, but this was crucial in making people aware of history that they may not be familiar with.

There is a clear ‘Schindler’s List’ influence on this movie’s plot in regards to one regular man helping numerous people during a terrible war. The confined nature to this storyline worked for its benefit and it also worked against it. It was a good choice to focus on just the survivors as it led to a less harrowing, palatable viewing experience. But it negatively impacted the scope of the movie, which felt oddly small, and it made it feel very much Americanized in its focus on individual heroism over the collective suffering and historicity.

Don Cheadle was nominated for his excellent performance in the main role of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who used his position to help hundreds of people from being massacred. He plays an admirable figure with a lot of authenticity – his African accent is great and his performance is emotionally driven and quite powerful.

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Sophie Okonedo was terrific as his wife and she also deserved her nomination. The white actors in this did not get much to do as the film focused extensively on Paul alone for better and for worse. I wished to have seen more of the regular people and their suffering as the movie was very limited in its scope. Hotel Rwanda is also technically somewhat lackluster, though it does have beautiful music and solid pacing. It’s an engaging, moving drama that is great at everything that it did, but it just felt a bit too mainstream for my taste.