Hotel Rwanda (2004)

"How many machete hacks to get to the centre of the Tutsi, Pop?"

Genre: Drama War Thriller (USA, UK, Italy, South Africa)

Starring: Don Cheadle (Crash; The Assassination Of Richard Nixon), Sophie Okonedo (Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls)

Directed By: Terry George

Overview: Based on a true story, we follow a five-star hotel manager's actions during the Rwandan Genocide.

Acting: The actors all do a terrific job. Personally I found the portrayals of the crueler Hutu bunch and the part of Nick Nolte to be my favorite roles, (after Don Cheadle, of course). Sadly I also found from time to time that there was just SOMETHING missing. i can't put my finger on it, so I'll say it's the director's fault. Tough.
Rating: 8

Cinematography: The look of the film as a whole was rather uninspired. Not to say that the director and camera staff didn't choose the simple look to enhance the story, which they may well have done, but, like in Ray, I found that it was less than great. This will fall under the 'very professional' category, but nothing special.
Rating: 7

Script: "We don't like you. Us. The West. We don't care. You're worse than Niggers to us... You're Africans."

Heavy eh? What a perfect line. It tells the tale perfectly. This is really well written, and you knew it would be, but there were some Hollywood cheese moments, as is to be expected. It's a real shame that it was expected though wasn't it?
Rating: 8

Plot: Need a reason to hate the Belgians? Well la dee-dah, now you have one. If you don't know what happened in 1994 in Rwanda, I mean really KNOW, well watch this. The message is important. For that reason it gets extra points. Sadly, the depth of the film ends there for me. Predictable.
Rating: 8

Mood: Heart-warming reunions with fanfares of hopeful music seem a little trite to me, but the political feel of the whole situation came through clear as day. Obviously that was the point, and good on ya for it. Little things like that scene where they're driving at night and all of a sudden they think they're off the road, only to find that the road is actually covered in bodies? This is what puts us right there in the mood of the thing. They do it subtly, you don't really SEE anyone getting killed, so it's not overwhelming, but it is just tragic enough to get the point across.
Rating: 8

"But sir, you must always save the cancer boy!"

Overall Rating: 78% (Good, But I Have My Reservations)

Aftertaste: You know what? Yeah it's good, but the message is just one little part of it. I think people really are missing out on film when they say this is the kind of stuff worthy of an Oscar. There are better stories out there, and though this is important, possibly more important that most because people need to know what happened, there's something to be said about more internal tragic tales. Dogville, Titus, these are films that really have pain driven through to you by the characters. The whole time I watched this movie, I felt that our Hero was the lucky one. So deep down it's a story of hope, I guess. Well that's nice. Hope prevails. So much for the one million dead. That's what I didn't like about this mainstream tale.