Hotel Rwanda Movie Review: By Adam Mast, ZBoneMan.com

Hotel Rwanda is an emotional, riveting, powerhouse of a film. One that should have received the same level of praise as any of the movies that dominated awards season late last year and into the early part of 2005. And in fact, I would have given an Oscar nomination to this heart-wrenching drama over Ray in a heartbeat (that’s not to take anything away from Taylor Hackford’s terrific bio-pic – I just thought this was a better film). In any case, Hotel Rwanda is a picture that everyone should see.

Don Cheadle (in a role that was reportedly offered to Will Smith) soars as Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who would go on to save huyndreds of lives during a civil war in Rwanda circa 1994. This horrific tale of genocide is also heroic and heartfelt and further proof that a single person can make a difference even when facing insurmountable odds.

Hotel Rwanda is one of those pictures that you don’t really watch – you experience it. It’s a movie that manages to be as powerful as it’s subject matter, and as I sat there absorbed by the awful events taking place in this true story, I was reminded of Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece, Schindler’s List. Another film that’s rooted in one of the darker chapters in the book of mankind.

What’s more, I wasn’t all that familiar with this story, and that in itself is disturbing - given that over a million Tutsi tribe members were murdered by the Hutu tribe in a massacre that took place with the rest of the world looking the other way. In fact there’s a harsh but honest moment in the picture in which Joaquin Phoenix’s (who plays a U.S. reporter) makes this abundantly clear.

Don Cheadle is stunning and this is easily his strongest work to date. His Paul is a quiet Hutu man, but he’s also extremely smart and incredibly observant. Because he listens and observes, he knows how things work, and ultimately becomes the perfect hotel manager because of it. He has no political agenda and in fact is happily married to a Tutsi woman (wonderfully played by Dirty Pretty Things’ Sophie Okonedo). He is, quite simply, a working family man who feels a strong bond with his fellow human beings. What he endures and risks to save lives is simply awe inspiring, and watching the way he applies his hotel managerial skills to real life or death situations is really something to behold. Cheadle is beyond good in this role. He brings a kind of passion to the part that we don’t often see in movies, but what I liked most is that he’s a real, honest to goodness hero. This isn’t fantasy. This is reality, and Cheadle is flawlessly able to put us right there in this harrowing situation with him.

There are so many profound moments to speak of in this film that it would be pointless to single any of them out. Director/screenwriter Terry George and his crew have created an amazing, politically charged movie about life, death, and the power of the human spirit, and with Hotel Rwanda he’s fashioned one of the most intense movie experiences I’ve seen in a long time. As Paul finds himself in one horrific scrape after another, I was never quite sure how he would manage to talk his way through what looked to be a bleak outcome. The tension in this picture just sort of builds and builds to a point where I really wasn’t sure what was going to happen.

Hotel Rwanda is a near perfect motion picture. I say near perfect, because the general consensus is "nothing’s perfect." Still, this is as close to perfect as you can get. As much as I loved Sideways, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Passion of the Christ, Million Dollar Baby and several other noteworthy films of last year, none of them moved me quite as much as Hotel Rwanda did. This is a profoundly touching film about people helping other people in a time of bloodshed and chaos. It couldn’t be anymore relevant.

Grade: A

Adam Mast, ZBoneMan.com