When watching a film about a country in Africa beset by acts of genocide you expect to see some harrowing scenes. But in Hotel Rwanda directed by Terry George in 2004 the atrocities are mostly seen in long shot or else we see only the aftermath of the mass slaughter.
There are no scenes of the kind of graphic violence that must have been a way of life for those caught up in the brutal conflict. This may come as a relief to squeamish viewers but it hardly seems to be true to the subject matter.
Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t want to see a gruesome splatter movie but I did hope that some of the harsh reality of the beleaguered country would be depicted. Confronting such horrors can help to understand the plight of the people provided it is not done in an exploitative way. By sanitising the barbarity, the movie effectively glosses over the worst aspects of the tragic events.
All this might be justified if there was a strong political dimension to help explain why the Hutu people were so determined to wipe out the Tutsi who they consistently call ‘cockroaches’. But the movie’s weak script and unimaginative directing barely scratches the surface of what is obviously a deep-rooted hatred between the two groups.
What is served up instead is a tasteful African version of Schindler’s List in which a director of Hotel des Milles Collines, Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), becomes an accidental hero saving over a thousand refugees.
His acts of bravery (based on a true story) are for most of the film in competition with his determination to maintain a high standard of personal grooming. Having a well pressed suit and clean shirt appear to be his top priorities until, belatedly he realises the deep shit everyone is in. Only then does he cease wearing a tie and go without shaving.
All this shows that Rusesabagina is not a man with any insights into the crisis he faces. Take this sample of lame dialogue:
Dube (a colleague at the hotel) Why are people so cruel ?
Rusesabagina: Hatred… Insanity… I don’t know..
What we have here is the story of an ordinary man who manages to save his family, neighbours and fellow citizens out of an instinctive humanity rather than from any deep-set convictions, political or otherwise. The movie focuses on the survivors of the conflict who never look convincingly desperate even when they seem to be facing certain death. The tacky and contrived Hollywood style ending where his family are reunited is the last straw.
There is criticism of UN’s unwillingness to take direct measures to try and resolve the crisis but this is a movie without teeth and the feel-good emphasis on the heroism of one man and good fortune of the few does a major disservice to around a million others who were slaughtered in this horrific war.
