On December 22, 2004 director Terry George released the movie Hotel Rwanda, and with that asserts that honor and integrity can mean more than one’s safety. Paul Rusesabagina, the main character, illustrates this this throughout the entire movie showing what ones integrity can do for others in a time of hopelessness. George’s purpose is to bury an everlasting document into the audience’s mind that reveals the horrors from this gruesome genocide. George accomplishes this throughout the movie with different uses of image, sound, and movement. Although the movie’s main audiences is aimed towards the United Nations, to keep reminding them of these tragedies that occurred while they were doing nothing, George also targeted an older more understanding …show more content…
For example as the movie the positive scenes seem to be short and quick and then with the progression of the movie towards the Genocide killings comes a transition to longer scenes. George does this to make the movie more relatable with the audience’s life. People always seem to feel that the good times never last long enough and the hard times last extra long. An example would be when Paul stays behind and leaves his family to make sure the people still staying at the hotel are safe and the Hutus get a radio broadcast that they are movie the Tutsis in the trucks they ambush them, the scene lasts three almost four minutes, and the scene seems to last forever running endless possibilities through your head. Then the end of the movie comes and Paul and his wife, Tatiana, are looking for and eventually find Tatiana’s nieces after they were missing for a while, this could be the happiest part of the movie and it only lasted about one minute long. George lengthens the frightening and heartbreaking times to make the audience think up the the endless possibilities that could occur and to make them terrifying scenes seem that much …show more content…
George uses a more uptempo type music to portray the positive aspects of the movie and then when the negative serie of events come in he switches to a more pessimistic style music. George does this to really change the mood and pull everything together in the scene. They music is a key part of making a scene seem better or worse than it would’ve been if the music would have been eliminated from the scenario. An example of this is when Paul and his family are listening to the radio and hear that the President’s plane has been shot down they start playing a really dark and horror styled music to make the moment of despair seem more understandable. George does just the opposite at the end of the movie, again, when Paul and Tatiana were looking for Tatiana’s nieces he use a joyful, soft song with a kids choir when they finally found them to illuminate the delightfulness of the scene. George uses different different songs and music choices to really pull in the whole scenario but to also help put true emotion into it.
Although describing the terror of the Rwandan Genocide is nearly impossible, George’s uses of image, sound, and movement truly depict these horrific historical tragedies into a movie as closely as it could possibly be. Hotel Rwanda’s story telling shows that one’s integrity can help many in a time of hopelessness and will
While the book “Left to Tell” by Immaculée Ilibagiza and the movie “Hotel Rwanda” by Terry George shows its share of similarities, both portray the Rwandan Massacre of 1994 in diversified ways. First, while both characters share similarities portraying the perspective of the genocide, they also show some major differences in the point of view as the main character in the movie was a hotel manager while the other main character from the book was a young, Tutsi woman. Also, while they face similar conflicts and hardships, both have their own personal field of adversities to face.
The characters presented in Stephen Minot’s “Rwanda” create an air of literary sophistication within the work, mainly through means of dialogue and thought. However, other narrative modes are incorporated into the short story as well. These include exposition, action, and some description. Minot’s writing is rather simplistic in style, but literarily it is very much so sophisticated. Despite being somewhat predictable, “Rwanda” implements a variety of well-executed narrative modes that transmutes the story into a meaningful and refined piece of prose.
Having been so open about his feelings and the events that occurred within Rwanda, therefore bound to surface just how disappointed he was, with not only the government, but mostly with himself. He recalls and describes events that not only shock, but disturb the majority of the readers. The biggest parts of the whole essay that truly emotionally connected to people in more ways than one would have to be the description of the young orphaned boy and the way the government talks about the situation. “We will recommend to our government not to intervene as the risks are high and all that is here are humans.” (Dallaire, 502, 18) Being able to look at the devastating chaos and be able to say “all that is here are humans.” As if humans- young or old, black or white, male or female, aren’t worth our time and oh so valuable finances. If Dallaire did not have readers attentions before his point, it is guaranteed he did afterwards.
Hotel Rwanda tackles a recent event in history where the Hutu extremists of Rwanda initiated a terrifying campaign of genocide, massacring approximately
In her book, Immaculée Ilibagiza shares the power of faith in God through her moving experience of the Rwandan genocide. God saved her life for a reason. “He left me to tell my story to others and show as many people as possible the leading power of his Love and Forgiveness” (208-09). Her book proves that “with God all things are possible”. Her objective is not to give a historical account of Rwanda and/or of the genocide. She gives her own story. She attests that through God’s help, forgiveness is possible – even to those who killed her parents. Her book is meant to help people to let go of the chains of hatred and anger, and be able to truly live in God who is love. Left to Tell is a breathtaking book that proves the fact that “the love
Like John Proctor in The Crucible, there too is a protagonist in the Rwanda Genocide – Paul Rusesabagina. They both display strength in standing up for what is right, they refuse to betray their friends and they both show great courage to do what is right, even if it means sacrificing themselves.
“The following is my story of what happened in Rwanda in 1994. It’s a story of betrayal, failure, naiveté, indifference, hatred, genocide, war, inhumanity and evil. ”
Maria Kizito and Hotel Rwanda are true accounts of two isolated events that took place in Rwanda during a genocide in 1994 where nearly one million innocent people lost their lives. Maria Kizito is a play that focuses mainly on the trial of a catholic nun, Maria Kizito, who was charged and found guilty of promoting and facilitating the murder of seven thousand refugees who sought shelter from Hutu extremist at a local convent (Kizito 178). Whereas Hotel Rwanda focuses on the life of Paul Rusesabagina, a Rwandan manager, and Hutu, at a Belgian-owned luxury hotel in Rwanda 's capital, who saved not only himself and his family but also 1,268 refugees from the same extremist. Despite their differences in location and characters, the play and the film, both develop narratives that tell the same story about how the genocide in Rwanda is a direct result of colonization, how the international community failed to intervene, and that a plane crash ignited in what was the worst genocide after the holocaust. Before analyzing how Maria Kizito and Hotel Rwanda depict Colonialism, it is important to first understand the history of Colonialism in Rwanda.
The continent of Africa has been continually engaged in civil, tribal and cross national conflicts from colonial independence up until present day. What historians regard as the most ‘efficient genocide’ in history, occurred in a mere 100 days in the small central African country of Rwanda. The Hutus and the Tutsis, two ethnic groups within Rwanda, have been at continual unrest for the past half a century. During the 100 day massacre of 1994, a murder occurred every two seconds; resulting in 18% of the Tutsi population being killed. A decade after the war, in 2004, the film Hotel Rwanda was released. The film followed the story of a Hutu man; Paul Rusesabagina as he housed over 1200 Tutsi refugees in his hotel. The Hotel De Milles
The 1994 Rwandan genocide presented one of the most horrific crimes against humanity since the Holocaust of World War II. In addition, it was also the first tragedy of its kind with the opportunity to be represented in full by the media. Media played a different role here than in the Holocaust, providing large coverage of the atrocities taking place “Remarkably, during a genocide that claimed as many as a million lives, this is one of the only times a killing is
On the lines of many movies subjected on ethnic discrimination and massacre, Hotel Rwanda focuses on Paul Rusesabagina and his family in Rwanda during the genocide of the Tutsis by the ruling Hutu tribe in 1994. The movie incorporates many aspects its subject in a thrilling and sentimental fashion. New York Times critic Stephan Holding’s problem is that the portrayal of violence and sentiments are not accurate. Considering the fact that this movie is meant cover a wide range of audience and its subject, the proportions of violence and sentiment are not balanced for the purpose of creating the most impact and arouse its viewers to the
I usually dislike historical movies because I simply do not understand some of them very well to have a clear opinion of what happened in a certain place, or I find them quite boring to watch. However, since I know about what happened in the Rwandan genocide, I found this movie interesting and have a lot of opinions to share or analyze. I think the film displays the brutality that is in some people’s hearts perfectly. I also think I can relate the history of the genocide to current situations around the world like in Syria, or Yemen. These two countries do not have the same history as the Rwandan genocide, however the fact that there are many fundamentalists involved in the killing of numerous people in the three countries relates them ideally. Therefore, I enjoyed watching “Shake Hands with the Devil’, because of the relation it had to current events happening in the
When studying international relations there are six main theories to look at: realism, liberalism, Marxism, social constructivism, poststructuralism, and postcolonialism. These six theories take different approaches to explain various regimes, actions, and events that have occurred around the world throughout time. Not only do these six theories vary by regimes, but also by individuals. For instance, looking at the Rwandan genocide of 1994, it can be argued that the overarching theory to explain it is realism, but notions of liberalism, constructivism, and postcolonialism can also be seen from individuals experiencing it. These four theories are represented in the movie, “Hotel Rwanda.” “Hotel Rwanda” is based off of a true story of a man named Paul Rusesbagina and the hotel he manages, Hotel de Mille Collines. Although not everything depicted in the movie is a real-life event, one is still able to understand how world views can differ from person to person depending on what they were going through during that time. Concepts presented in the movie are concepts that tried to stick to the real events as much as they could. The movie clearly distinguishes the feud between the Tutsi tribe and the Hutu tribe within Kigali. Furthermore, characters Paul Rusebagina, Colonel Oliver, Georges Rutaganda, depict motivating world views. When viewing these three characters and Kigali as a whole, it is evident that not everyone experiencing the same event will view it in the same way.
Genocide is rightfully seen as one of the most emotionally heavy words in the English language. When many people think of genocide, they might correlate the word to the attempted, and nearly successful, extermination of the Jewish people during World War II. To stand by and watch fellow human beings killing each other because of their race, religion, sexuality, etc., leads many to conclude those who stand by are just as guilty as those who commit the act. Unfortunately, countless horrendous acts are kept silent from the global eye, as the film The Devil Came on Horseback intends to show us. Anne Sundeburg’s 2007 documentary, The Devil Came on Horseback, creatively uses persuasion techniques, which include: the credibility of Marine Brian