One thing I love about motion pictures is that when done right, films have means of presenting issues and conflicts that fit for the times we currently live in. Sometimes a movie is about something that happened as early as two years ago; another one about something a decade prior.
Hotel Rwanda is one of the latter, a motion picture that discusses the awful, horrendous Rwandan genocide of 1994. The portrayed images and scenes left me with a very cold feeling in my heart, both for our lack of response to the crisis and acknowledging the direction that our country is taking. I fear that if we don't really start doing something now to change how people think in such unilateral, hateful, violent terms, we will be experiencing our own Hotel Rwanda.
As the story is told, the rise of animosity between the Hutus and Tutsis sprung from colonialism with the Belgians. The story is that Tutsis were treated better with the Belgian conquerors than the Hutus.
This BBC article summarizes the situation nicely:
But when the Belgian colonists arrived in 1916, they saw the two groups as distinct entities, and even produced identity cards classifying people according to their ethnicity.
The Belgians considered the Tutsis as superior to the Hutus. Not surprisingly, the Tutsis welcomed this idea, and for the next 20 years they enjoyed better jobs and educational opportunities than their neighbours.
Resentment among the Hutus gradually built up, culminating in a series of riots in 1959. More than 20,000 Tutsis were killed, and many more fled to the neighbouring countries of Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda.
When Belgium relinquished power and granted Rwanda independence in 1962, the Hutus took their place. Over subsequent decades, the Tutsis were portrayed as the scapegoats for every crisis.
The film depicts the Tutsis living in poverty-stricken areas, oppressed in the same manner that supposedly their ancestors oppressed the Hutus during the Belgian reign. Hutus appeared to live life very mightily and luxuriously, despite the flailing economy. They had the finest wine and cigars, the best way of life, and a daily assurance from their radio stations of those responsible for all the troubles in their country - Tutsis.
As the story continues:
The economic situation worsened and the incumbent president, Juvenal Habyarimana, began losing popularity.
At the same time, Tutsi refugees in Uganda - supported by some moderate Hutus - were forming the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Their aim was to overthrow Habyarimana and secure their right to return to their homeland.
Habyarimana chose to exploit this threat as a way to bring dissident Hutus back to his side, and Tutsis inside Rwanda were accused of being RPF collaborators.
In August 1993, after several attacks and months of negotiation, a peace accord was signed between Habyarimana and the RPF, but it did little to stop the continued unrest.
When Habyarimana's plane was shot down at the beginning of April 1994, it was the final nail in the coffin.
Exactly who killed the president - and with him the president of Burundi and many chief members of staff - has not been established.
The film leaves it open to speculation as to whether or not the RPF shot down the president's plane, or if Hutus were responsible for his death to achieve the ends of a full-scale mass murder of the Tutsis.
Extremist talk radio is no doubt seen as the unrepentant evil of the film, whose personality referred to the Tutsis as cockroaches. People began repeating the same type of propaganda the stations uttered. The station condemned the Tutsis for the murder of their president, and ordered their listeners to "cut the tall trees." Sure enough, militiamen and army personnel began grabbing Tutsis from their homes, hacking them with machetes, leaving them to die in the streets.
The hero in the film is Paul Rusesabagina, played incredibly by Don Cheadle (on a side note, I think it is safe to say that it would be a travesty if either Don or Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles failed to pick up an Oscar for lead actor). Paul is a well-mannered, but overly naïve hotel manager, who felt that by showing class and character, and pandering to rich contacts that if trouble were to come, he could rely on them for aid. Paul, a Hutu who is married to a Tutsis, is portrayed as a man who could not believe his country could really ever follow through with the elimination of the Tutsis.
Paul's character is reminiscent of the Jews in Spielberg's Schindler's List, who refused to believe that the Germans would even go through with their planned slaughters - I mean, human beings just don't do that. But reality quickly settles in as the Hutu army almost eliminates his entire family. Paul is forced to bribe the officer with money and beer to keep his family and the Tutsis that were with them safe.
It takes a UN officer, played by Nick Nolte in a great comeback role, to make Paul understand that the West is not going to help, that all his white, rich friends won't lift a finger to help him or his country. It is a moment of agonizing clarity for a man who finally learns how badly he was taken advantage. He uses his hotel as a sanctuary for many Tutsis, and whatever contacts he had to ensure their safety and his own. The radio propaganda, however, never stops and consistently labels Tutsis as cockroach traitors and labels Hutus that are helping them, including the UN Peacekeepers, as no better than the Tutsis.
In interviews I hear today from Paul and his wife, their displeasure with the West is still very strong, and after watching the movie, I can't quite blame them. But the real scary thing is that a lot of what I witnessed in that movie is eerily similar to what is happening here in America.
On one side, you have the group of people who have power in government, the supposed moral majority, those that have the "true" American nationalism, and those who are living the highlife. On the other, you have the folks who were in power once, but now are without it, living in slums, seeing their liberties and rights being weakened, their bank accounts drained, and those who are liberals are outed as the ultimate scapegoats to all of the country's economic and security problems. Compare that to the movie, and you can probably guess who the Hutus and Tutsis resemble.
The film depicts radio as a major source for instigating the violence and incitement that led to the genocide that resulted in almost a million corpses. It was recently reported that journalists in Rwanda were sentenced from 35 years to life for their incitement of the Rwandan genocide. Compare that to what is broadcasted regularly throughout our country: "Liberals are commies, they are traitors, they are what's wrong with this country, they want to take your babies, they want to burn your Bible..." and etc., etc., etc.
People don't think it could really happen here, but look at what instigated the violence in Rwanda - the assassination of the president. Who is to say, with all the hate that is being spewed on Fox, by Rush, Coulter, Falwell, Robertson, Hannity, Savage and other right-wing nutjobs, that one spark could start a massive fire? A spark from another terrorist attack or, God forbid, the assassination of Bush or Cheney or someone in high standing with them could be enough to send these folks into such a state of anger that the only thing that could come from their mouths is, "Liberals are to blame for this and we must do something about them."
Hotel Rwanda opened my eyes to how we in the West ignore such travesties of justice in places we don't even know or care about, and to how this country could fall into the same trap Rwanda did back in 1994. Jobs are being lost, the environment is weakening, the economy is waning, families are losing family members to Iraq and Afghanistan, life is becoming worse, and most of these folks only hear that liberals are to blame for everything that is happening now. What's worse is that they actually believe without questioning, and they have no clue that today's mainstream media is no longer impartial but rapidly becoming a full-fledged propaganda tool for the Right.
Thank God that Air America is starting to thrive, because this country needs something like it in the worst way possible. People are being told lies at a near constant rate, and all it takes is one big lie to get people to revolt in anger. I used to believe in the good will of Americans until the election - now I don't know what to believe, and I've now grown to assume the worst even if it is not possible.
With this Administration and the right-wing propaganda machine, everything and anything is possible, even an American-born genocide. After watching Hotel Rwanda, the last thing I want is to see a European film called Hotel America. We need to expose this hate speech for what it is. This constant labeling of people, because of their political identities, as the reason for all our problems must be countered if we want any shot at stopping a mass uprising in this country. If there is any silver lining is that there are those like Paul on the other side that are not like them, and are actually decent human beings. We must find them and help them understand what is happening before they become consumed in this propaganda and start looking at you funny.