Hotel Rwanda
I saw “Hotel Rwanda”, and more or less got what I expected: a schematic melodramatic movie about genocide that predictably hits all the beats and tries its hardest to suck tears out the audience’s eyes at fifteen minute intervals. This isn’t to say it’s a bad film; the performances are generally good and its heart is in the right place. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t affected by it. But I suspect most the emotional power comes from the built-in context, from what you know going into the film. Because most of the action happens away from the actual killing and because the film often operates at a purely suspense (read: Hollywood) level most of the time, much of the reality of the genocide (that is the actual killing of the Tutsis) seems diminished. The story is simple: A Hutu hotel manager uses connections and bribery to save his family and as many Tutsis as he can from the machetes of his fellow Hutus.
Instead of being exposed to the real gravity of the crime, we’re introduced to a number of stock character types in situations occurring at the periphery. Which isn’t to say that the film lacks any conviction; the absurdity and arbitrariness of the violence is treated very well. One comes away with the impression that the cultural barriers imposed by the Belgians were not only artificial but insane, and I can’t deny the stench of idiocy that the Europeans and Americans brought to the situation- one of the most painful moments in the film is a scene where the UN colonel (played by Nick Nolte, more or less playing Nick Nolte) tells the hotel manager (Don Cheadle) that the Europeans and Americans plan on simply withdrawing from Rwanda and that, sadly, the victims are “just Africans, not even niggers” to the west.
If the whole movie had the power of the evacuation scene that follows, it would have been one of the best movies of its year. But unfortunately much of it is just predictable melodrama that derives its power from the weight of the crime itself (over a million Tutsis slaughtered by the Hutus). And because the film is so by-the numbers, guilt and regret are all that justify its existence; it simply does not stand alone. As an educational tool it would be very useful, but I think another film, one that confronts the horror head on- the very real brutality of the Hutu paramilitaries visited on the Tutsi civilians- needs to be made. Only then can audiences really understand the event, if even then.
I often wonder if these films actually have any real effect on the world, or if they simply play to “white liberal guilt.” It’s as though the best we can manage anymore is slight matinee fare to convey the world’s problems, reducing them to simple entertainments that inspire a thought and then disappear off the political radar. Where is our “Night and Fog?” But that’s its own topic.