Hotel Rwanda

"Hutus kill Tutsis, then Tutsis kill Hutus--if that's really all there is to it, then no wonder we can't be bothered with it." -- Philip Gourevitch

"We'll watch it on TV, say that it's terrible, and go right on eating our dinner." - Joaquin Phoenix as Jack, Hotel Rwanda

Went and saw Hotel Rwanda this past weekend, and words can't really describe how powerful a film it is, and sickening at the same time. Powerful, because it is based on the true story of hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu who risked his life for his family and more than 1,000 other Tutsis, victims of the Hutu inspired genocide of 800,000 Tutsi in 1994. Powerful, because like the stories of people like Oskar Schindler, it demonstrates how "normal" people can perform incredible feats with ingenuity, moral conviction and some luck. Sickening, because it is another story of man's capacity for excessive inhumanity towards his fellow man, made even worse by the fact that the world stood by and watched. While the filmmakers took some liberties with the story, the bottom line is dead on -- Paul Rusesbagina was an African hotel manager who saved the lives of more than 1000 Tutsis, an unlikely hero who simply decided to stand up and say enough.

This is a film that should shame any person who watches it, because this situation was largely preventable with the intervention of the West and or other African nations, who simply turned their backs on mass murder. It should shame any person who's opinion on foreign policy is strictly based on what tangible benefit it has for one's country. It's not as simple as that, because intervention would require the use of the military, and would certainly lead to military deaths. It's not that simple, because maybe the U.S should not be the world's policeman. But when it comes down to it, some things are just right, and preventing genocide should be a staple, if not of U.S. policy, than NATO policy, because God knows the UN is toothless. I doubt that any film or book can change the way a nation thinks, or acts, or responds to crisis. But I think that this movie makes a difference, maybe one viewer at a time.

Two books discussing the genocide that I recommend:
"We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda" by Philip Gourevitch
"A Problem from Hell" : America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power