Hi-
I saw Hotel Rwanda today. Ignored by the American public at large, this disturbing film shows a glimpse of the horror of Rwanda back in 1994.
In a period of months, 1 million Rwandans were murdered. why? because they were of the tutsi. the tutsi's were chosen by the Belgian colonizers as the priveldged "race." why? because some of the Tutsis seemed to have lighter skin. this act by the colonizer sowed the seeds of bitter hatred by the area's majority populace-the hutus. two scenes in this film explains it all. one shows a UN gneral (played by nick nolte) telling the truth --the peoples of Africa to the West have been deemed by the western powers as not even niggers. the tutsis and their fate was sealed by the UN, particularly America on the security council. the orders-all foreign nationals, whites in particular, were given a convoy out. thats right-whites were saved, blacks were not. another haunting scene-at the begining of the film one sees the thousands of long knives the hutus were getting, for 10 cents a piece from China. the west failed the peoples of Rwanda as genocide occured at an unheard of pace-in about three months time nearly a million slashed to death. one million. A powerful portrait of the good and evil in the peoples of this earth. of all the films I have seen this past year, this is the most powerful and important. it is not the "Aviator" or "Million Dollar Baby" or even "Ray." no, its "Hotel Rwanda." period. sadly this film wont get its due. why? its not even nominated for best picture. cheadle is for best actor. there a few more noms, but my sense is that this is the one film Americans, and indeed the West does not want to run and view. its painful to watch how the west failed morally, but it is certainly not the first nor the last either. I challenge all those who havent seen this film to go see it. It is the most important film of the year and ranks in importance with Schindler's List. a brave film. urge all you can to everyone you know to see this. We in the West said after the Holocaust, "never again." yet it happens again and again. the central figure of the film, played by cheadle, kept expecting "civilization" to save the tutsis. it never arrived. it never arrived for the Jews in the Holocaust. It never arrived in Rwanda. It hasnt happened in the Sudan. Nearly 100,000 murdered by militias for what? Ask yourself this.
Art