Hotel Rwanda tells the story of the Rwandan Genocide–a national war between the ethnic groups of Hutus and Tutsis–and the struggle a hotel owner endured to save as many people as he could.
The film follows Paul Rusesabagina, a hutu hotel owner married to Tatiana, a tutsi woman. Paul is an important person, and his words have power with influential people — and so do his bribes. He protects his family and tries to keep his hotel running by bribing generals and influencers with alcohol and money. Soon, he realizes that his neighbors are in danger, and negotiates to have them come to his hotel and stay with him. He also takes in the overflow from orphanages, UN refugee camps, and the Red Cross.
The film is powerful, honest and raw, and does not hold back. It portrays the true horrors faced by the Rwandan people in the genocide — the axings and killings, the torture, and the corruption running through the nation’s law enforcement. When talking to the local leader of a hutu militia, Paul expresses his disbelief that it’s possible to kill every tutsi, to which he gets the response “Why not? We are halfway there already.” The staggering reality of this sentence is made clear by a later scene in which the dead bodies of tutsis cover the sides of the road, making it clear that the estimate of half the tutsis being dead is scarily close to the reality. The storytelling is well done and gives true insight into the pain and trouble suffered by the Rwandan people in a genocide that few people at the time understood.
Hotel Rwanda powerfully portrays the jarring struggle of people in the Rwandan genocide in a film reminiscent of Schindler’s List, and sheds light on a commonly misunderstood piece of history.