Hotel Rwanda vacant of 'realism'

Catholic New Times, Jan 30, 2005 by Patrick Donohue

Hotel Rwanda, directed by Terry George (The Boxer, In the Name of the Father), with Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo and Nick Nolte, 121 minutes.

This movie does a good job of establishing the context of the genocide that occurred in Rwanda in the 1990s. We get the fact that the Tutsis had been favoured by the Belgian colonial powers, but when the Hutus took over at independence, the Tutsis fled. Now some of them are coming back and trying to reclaim their land. The Hutu radio station openly promotes extermination of the Tutsi "cockroaches." The Hutu militia, comprised mostly of young thugs, is running wild, probably with the complicit approval of the government which claims to be unable to reign them in.

The movie focuses on the true story of a Hutu man who is left behind as the manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines in Kigali when all the whites have fled for their safety. He has to deal with the hundreds of black people who have sought refuge in the hotel from the carnage in streets. Among them are some Tutsis, including his wife. The man has to constantly bribe the militia to buy groceries to feed his "guests," and, more importantly, to buy time until they can be spirited out by the UN. It occurred to me that there are biblical proportions to the man's heroism but I couldn't think of the exact precedent. Moses, maybe? In terms of more recent references, he's a real "Schilndler's List" kind of guy.

But the movie doesn't have as powerful an impact as you'd expect. If you want to make a work of art for a good cause, you shouldn't scrimp on the artistic side because that will compromise your message. What sort of compromises are we talking about here? Well, small ones, to begin with. Editing for example. Reaction shots come just a fraction of a second too late. In outdoor scenes, the rain machines are pouring buckets, but you can see in the background that it's actually a sunny day. Am I just being picky? Maybe. But the fact is, these kinds of things get in the way of my being completely caught up in the story.

At more than two hours, the movie's too long, by my bum-numbness meter. That might not matter much but for the fact that the momentum doesn't build steadily to the end. There is a faltering in the pace that jeopardizes the impact of the climax.

And one thing that really undermines a movie for me is lame dialogue. Here, the script stumbles through junk lines like "I have this from a reliable authority" and "This will all soon be over" and "Cut the bullshit." (Not exact quotes; we're relying on my head-held recorder here, not my hand-held one.)

It may be because of the dialogue, but Don Cheadle in the starring role always sounds a bit too formal and precise. His diction is too meticulous. He looks very noble, quite the picture of the decent man, but he never relaxes into ordinariness.

That could be why the intimate, family scenes aren't as moving as they could be. It could also be because they look too staged, too scripted. There's a lack of the realistic, casual detail that you get in an expertly done movie. As a result, the overall impact of the tragedy is diminished.

Most of the other actors do well. Some of the huge black men who play the thugs have amazing presence on camera. I was impressed with Joaquin Phoenix's small role as a scruffy photographer, mainly because he seemed so real and believable, so non-movie-star-ish. It struck me, though, that Nick Nolte was an odd choice for the head of the UN mission in Kigali. This is presumably the General Romeo Dallaire role, although the character is not so identified. Maybe the problem is that the script didn't give Mr. Nolte much character to work with, but he looked like he would be a lot more comfortable kicking ass than trying to keep the peace.

My favourite actor in the piece was the woman who played a Red Cross worker trying to save children. (Haven't found her name yet.) With her scraggly blonde hair and slight overbite, she conveys an authenticity and a decency that strike right to the heart of the matter. If your children were in danger anywhere in the world, she's the kind of international aid worker you'd want to have on the scene. You know she'd do everything humanly possible to rescue them.

Patrick Donohue frequently reviews films for CNT.