HOTEL RWANDA - must see film, opens this week

[2TuffCrew]

http://www.movienet.com/images/Hotel_Rwanda/HR_1.jpg

HOTEL RWANDA
http://www.mgm.com/ua/hotelrwanda


i was fortunate enough to watch HOTEL RWANDA last night and it is a great film - highly recommended. it comes out this friday at the Landmark Theatres and if you have the time & $$$ to go see it, you must do so. powerful film-making & a gripping story for real. do not miss this flick - for real!!!

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2004/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/29/review.rwanda/story.cheadle.okonedo.jpg


"During 100 terrifying days in 1994, nearly 1 million people died in a horrific genocide in the African country of Rwanda, as the ruling members of the Hutu tribe began a calculated effort to wipe out the Tutsi minority.

This unholy act of inhumanity was compounded by the fact that the world stood silently by and did nothing to intervene.

The film "Hotel Rwanda" is based on an actual event that occurred during that terrible time, the attempt of one man -- a hotel manager named Paul Rusesabagina -- to save as many people as possible. The film is not only one of the best movies of the year; it is also probably the most important movie of the year.

Rusesabagina, played magnificently by Don Cheadle, managed to save the lives of 1,268 people as he risked everything in an uncommon act of courage. (The hotelier, who's still alive, served as a consultant to the movie.)

He was the manager of the Hotel Mille Collines, a Belgian-owned resort in Kigali, Rwanda. Adept at servicing the needs and egos of the rich and powerful, both European and Rwandan, he was at first reluctant to realize the enormity of the situation.

Early in the film, as the mindless massacres are just beginning, Rusesabagina meets a cynical Western journalist, Jack, played with quiet intensity by Joaquin Phoenix. Jack has captured video footage showing the rampant savagery taking place across the country. Rusesabagina is elated -- sure that this footage will bring help and intervention from around the world.

Jack knows better.

"If people see this footage, they'll say, 'Oh my God, that's terrible,' and they'll go on eating their dinners," he tells Rusesabagina."


some words with director/co-writer Terry George:
http://www.movienet.com/hotelrwanda.html

[zartan]

can't wait - i believe Paul Rusesabagina will be interviewed on NPR today - talk of the nation I think.

[2TuffCrew]

i know this movie has recieved some hype & advance praise - and i am rather critical of films myself, but it definitely lived up to & exceeded the hype. i'm so lucky that my friend floated me the 'awards preview' DVD copy - it's off the hook.

probably not a 100% perfect/parallel analogy, but the best way to explain it is:

Hotel Rwanda is to the Rwandan Genocide what
Schindler's List is to the Jewish Holocaust.

it's that deep & good of a film.
GO SEE IT!

[Light Touch]

I hear this film is great. Don Cheadle is an incredible actor.

[BizarroCub]

Yeah...I really wanna see this too.

[maynard]

Don't go to the movies much, but this one has definitely aroused my interest. :thumbsup:

[Alexis]

That guy was great in Boogie Nights

[Methodus]

Sorry for the resurrection. Just wanted to mention that I finally saw this a few weeks ago. It was a great film. Good recommendation 2Tuff.

[BizarroCub]

You know...this is sitting on my DVD rack and I still haven't watched it...

[LadyJ]

You know...this is sitting on my DVD rack and I still haven't watched it...
Grizz, I've been wanting to see this. Would you like some company to watch it? You can come over and we can watch it on the projecter if you want.

[xX J-Dat Xx]

Don Cheadle is an incredible actor.


I agree..

[BizarroCub]

Grizz, I've been wanting to see this. Would you like some company to watch it? You can come over and we can watch it on the projecter if you want.

Or you guys could come over and watch it on my huge HD tv...=P~

But I wouldn't mind the company...specially since the main reason i haven't watched it I'm an overly empathic sappy dork...so I know I'll be blubbering by the end of it...LOL

[Louis Riley]

I saw it on DVD a couple of weeks ago, it's absolutely brilliant, a very harrowing film

[LadyJ]

Or you guys could come over and watch it on my huge HD tv...=P~

But I wouldn't mind the company...specially since the main reason i haven't watched it I'm an overly empathic sappy dork...so I know I'll be blubbering by the end of it...LOL
We shall blubber together. I think we're free tomorrow evening or next Sunday. Let's take it to PMs :D

[ZRilla]

I saw Hotel Rwanda in the theater. Good film.

[Methodus]

From Rwanda, a Lesson in Heroism
Hotel Manager Who Saved 1,200 Countrymen Was Simply 'Doing the Right Thing'

By Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 17, 2005; B01

Eleven-year-old Jessie Bevis has learned all about heroes from history books and television. There's Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. and even Lance Armstrong. There are the firefighters who helped people on Sept. 11, 2001, and the soldiers fighting in Iraq.

So yesterday, when Jessie shook hands with Paul Rusesabagina, a man she learned had saved the lives of more than 1,200 people in Rwanda, she was surprised by how normal he seemed.

"He's a nice guy, but inside he's really courageous and brave," Jessie said. "To learn about him, and then actually meet him, was really cool."

Rusesabagina, the former hotel manager whose story inspired the movie "Hotel Rwanda," was in the Washington area for World Refugee Day events, where he was honored Wednesday by an audience that included Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and actress Angelina Jolie. He has become a prominent human rights activist, speaking to crowds at universities across the United States about the genocide in Rwanda. And he has traveled to Sudan in an effort to draw attention to killings in Darfur.

But yesterday, at Sleepy Hollow Elementary School in the Falls Church section of Fairfax County, Rusesabagina boiled down the message he has delivered to politicians, academics and movie stars into its essence for the youngest ears.

"I thought I was doing the right thing," Rusesabagina told the elementary students sitting cross-legged on a gymnasium floor. "You also should do the right thing."

The children sang "Let There Be Peace on Earth" for their guest and made him an honorary alumnus. And when he happened to mention that Wednesday was his birthday -- a detail he noted in response to a student's question about where he was born -- the children clapped and spontaneously sang "Happy Birthday."

Rusesabagina began his story by telling the children that in Rwanda, "there were bad people and good people." He explained that the bad people wanted to kill the good people.

"The good people came to hide in my hotel," Rusesabagina said. "I had to give them food. I had to give them shelter . . . and keep away the bad people for 2 1/2 months."

He told them that the electricity and water were cut off, so the refugees began to use water from the hotel swimming pool for drinking and cooking. "I watched the water in the swimming pool go down and wondered where I would get another drop of water," he said.

When it was time for questions, hands popped up. "How could you fit everyone in the hotel?" one child asked. "What made you do all these things?" "Was it hard?" "Were you scared during all this?"

"No, fortunately I did not have time to be scared," Rusesabagina said. "I did not know that what I was doing was different. I thought other people were doing it."

Rusesabagina's visit to the school has its roots in a trip he took in January to visit Sudan and refugee camps in neighboring Chad as part of a congressional delegation headed by Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.). K. Riva Levinson, a Washington consultant on international issues and the mother of two Sleepy Hollow students, helped organize the trip and traveled with the group.

Levinson said Rusesabagina turned to her one day, thanked her and asked, "What can I do for you?" She invited him to Sleepy Hollow.

As the school prepared for Rusesabagina's visit, teachers and administrators talked over the best way to introduce children to the Rwandan genocide, 100 days of killing that left about 800,000 people dead in 1994, Principal Craig Rowland said.

They chose to avoid the word "genocide," a concept teachers thought was too disturbing for grade-schoolers, and instead turned the visit into a lesson about heroes. Rowland said he decided that Rusesabagina's story was too distressing and complex for kindergartners and first-graders, who stayed in their classrooms.

But in recent weeks, the older children learned that there was a conflict between ethnic groups in Rwanda. They learned that Rusesabagina saved many lives.

Tracy Raine's students, second- and third-graders, talked about George Washington, Susan B. Anthony and people who came to the aid of tsunami victims in South Asia in their discussion about heroes. They also talked about discrimination in the United States and the civil rights movement.

"We want them to understand the world," Raine said. "We can't hide the truth. We don't put it out there to terrify them, but they need to be informed."

Nadia Berhane, 10, said the hard part is trying to understand why Rusesabagina had to be a hero.

"It's hard to believe this could happen," Nadia said. "You don't want to be mean to people."

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2005/06/16/PH2005061601450.jpg

[BizarroCub]

Also, if you guys liked Hotel Rwanda, you'll like:

http://www.buzzlife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54008&highlight=april

[ZRilla]

How are the DVD extras? Insightful?