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Sometimes the sheer power a story trumps whatever filmmaking misjudgments keep it from being as good as it should be. Such is the case with Hotel Rwanda, a film that contains moments so wrenching, your stomach literally hurts. Don Cheadle is a respected and enjoyable actor, but nothing in his resume portended the dimension he brings to the role of Paul Rusesabagina, a Rwandan hotel manager who sheltered 1,200 of his countrymen targeted during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. It's an amazing performance and an amazing story, but director Terry George is unable to tell it with the style or depth that the material is begging for. It's disappointing, to be sure, but the film is so well acted and so well meaning that it still emerges as one of the best of 2004.
Western audiences are shamefully oblivious to the atrocities in Rwanda, an oversight that the film seeks to rectify. Following the suspicious death of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana in 1994, the Hutu militia, spurred on by propagandistic radio broadcasts, hunted down and murdered almost one million Tutsis and sympathetic Hutus. For one hundred days, the country was in complete chaos, with the rest of the world essentially turning its back.
One sympathetic Hutu is Rusesabagina, manager of the four-star Hotel Des Milles Collines in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. In fascinating detail, Terry George paints Rusesabagina as a man who utilizes the art of the deal to cater to the hotel's top shelf clientele. When a high ranking general visits the hotel, Rusesabagina makes sure his suitcase is filled with his favorite single malt scotch by the time he leaves. If guests want imported beer, Rusesabagina is not above bribery to get it. But his work ethic, as morally questionable as it may be, will save his life and the lives of his twelve hundred charges once the genocide begins.
When the trouble starts, Rusesabagina is content to wait it out until the United Nations comes to the rescue. But the U.N., like the rest of the world, decides to look the other way. The U.N. presence in Rwanda is embodied by Col. Oliver (Nick Nolte), a Canadian peacekeeper who approaches his job with more than a hint of regret and resignation. When given orders not to interfere, he reacts with a bitter tirade about how the world doesn't care because the Rwandans are dark-skinned. It's a startling admission and one of the better scenes in the movie. With the world turning its back, Rusesabagina uses all his favors to keep the military from entering the hotel. When his favors are gone, he uses money. When the money is gone, he uses his wits. And Rusesabagina has a personal interest in seeing his twelve hundred Tutsi charges to safety: his wife Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo) is Tutsi.
Watching Rusesabagina dance his way out of trouble is the film's greatest asset. He treats friend and foe with the same clenched-teeth professionalism, because his job, whether catering to a tourist or a gun-wielding general, is to keep everyone calm and satisfied. Where the movie falters is in the rather pedestrian and overlit direction of Terry George. Compare George's film to Michael Winterbottom's Welcome to Sarajevo or Godard's Notre Musique, and you start to see missed opportunities. Also problematic is the character of Tatiana, who is too thinly drawn, which is a shame since she's our best entry into Rusesabagina's inner thoughts. These are problems, yes. But the Rusesabagina character is so fascinating and his journey of bravery and altruism is so riveting that the movie still soars.
Some critics complained that we didn't see enough carnage, an unfair charge. The movie is seen though Rusesabagina's eyes and he was stuck in the hotel for much of the ordeal. Just as Schindler's List approached the murder of six million Jews by telling one, personal tale of heroism, Hotel Rwanda focuses on one man's journey to tell a bigger story. Hotel Rwanda does what all good movies do: they shine an unavoidable light onto the darkest corners of human behavior. And while the movie's flaws are real, its power is equally unavoidable.
The Video: How Does The Disc Look?
The film's theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is presented in anamorphic video. Colors are vibrant and fully saturated. The African clothing is filled with multiple hues and they look great and there are no jaggies or blooming. Blacks are very dark with excellent shadow detail that only occasionally threatens to get muddy. Grain is only noticeable during low-light interiors, but it does not detract from the experience. While the overall look of the movie is vivid, sometimes the results are too bright. Some of this is Terry George's fault. The movie pushes the bounds of slickness. Also, I was surprised at the amount of print flaws for such a new film. About six times during the movie, I saw a black speck flash onto the screen. That's six times too many. The other issue is edge halos. In a number of scenes, like some of the rooftop scenes, halos are quite evident. This affects sharpness and detail, which are still quite good, but not as good I would have hoped. In all, a very nice transfer, clean and filled with color, but nagging issues chip away at perfection.
The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?
I enjoyed this Dolby Digital 5.1 track because it got a lot of little things right. There's a surprising amount of audio activity going on, from the score to the battle sounds to the general background activity. I was constantly noticing something new hitting my ears. Of course, a good mix is never noticeable, it simply is. But I liked the amount of "stuff" going on. What the mix does lack is overall envelopment. Most of the activity comes from the front three speakers, with the surrounds adding ambience and oomph to the score. Still, a more three-dimensional feel to the track would have given the movie more of a nightmare quality. Bass sounds quite good in the popping of artillery shells and clomping of feet. Highs never tear and never show any edginess. Dialogue is clean, but sometimes the thick accents make certain lines hard to hear. Unfortunately, you have to go through the menu system to turn on the subtitles, which is really annoying.
There is also a French Dolby 2.0 track, and subtitles in English, Spanish, and French.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
A collection of extras helps fill out the Rwandan story, but gives too little insight into how the film was made. First up is a scene specific commentary by director Terry George and Paul Rusesabagina. George makes it clear that he's not interested in a commentary that just rehashes where he put the camera. Rusesabagina does much of the talking, comparing the events of the film to what he experienced. There is some air in their comments and I can't say the effort is overwhelmingly interesting. But since Rusesabagina is still alive and available to commit his thoughts to history, an audio commentary is the perfect way to do it. During the end credits, composer Wyclef Jean discusses how he produced the end credit song in only three days. Music fans buying the DVD because of Jean's involvement will be disappointed, since his comments are marginalized to the final moments of the film.
Selected Scenes Commentary by Don Cheadle sees the Oscar nominated actor recording his thoughts for about 21 minutes. Cheadle is low-key while talking about his character and some vaguely interesting production details. Not as good as one would hope.
A Message for Peace: Making Hotel Rwanda is a half-hour making-of featurette. Writer Keir Pearson discusses stumbling upon the idea and then calling the Rwandan embassy in Washington DC for more information. It turns out the woman on the phone survived the genocide. At that point, Pearson was hooked. He then tracked down Paul Rusesabagina in Belgium and found him eager to tell the story of his people, especially since they were ignored during the genocide itself. There is a recent junket interview with the real Paul Rusesabagina and seeing him is kind of a thrill, since unlike Oscar Schindler, he's not some long dead ghost of history. It's not a remarkable featurette, but it's based on a remarkable story, so it's worth watching.
The most interesting extra is Return to Rwanda. Here, Rusesabagina and his wife Tatiana head back to Rwanda for the first time since the genocide and visit some all-too familiar sites. This is the ground level material that makes the film itself better. We visit the Hotel Des Milles Collines where it all happened and see Rusesabagina hugging some of the staff. It's not slickly put together and audio is dodgy. But who cares. This stuff is essential.
Finally, there are some trailers, including one for Hotel Rwanda.
Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?
There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.
Final Thoughts
Hotel Rwanda is a gut-wrenching experience featuring a confident, mesmerizing, Oscar-nominated lead performance by Don Cheadle. The film could have used a defter director and sometimes the story is satisfied merely pushing emotional buttons. But there's so much great material that you'd have to be a very callous person indeed not to be moved. The transfer is soft but pretty while the extras contain priceless footage of the real Paul Rusesabagina. It's not easy viewing, but it's easily recommended.
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