Hotel Rwanda - A True Story
*Originally published March 3, 2016 and March 8, 2017
The students in Coach Ashley's World Geography classes are watching Hotel Rwanda, an excellent movie about one man's effort to help save hundreds of Rwandans victims of a civil war.
Paul Rusesabagina (Don
Cheadle), a Hutu, manages the Hôtel des Mille Collines and lives a happy life
with his Tutsi wife (Sophie Okonedo) and their three children. But when Hutu
military forces initiate a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Tutsi minority,
Paul is compelled to allow refugees to take shelter in his hotel. As the U.N.
pulls out, Paul must struggle alone to protect the Tutsi refugees in the face
of the escalating violence later known as the Rwandan genocide.
Tensions between the Hutu
and Tutsi peoples lead to a civil war, in a country where corruption and bribes
are routine. Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), the manager of Sabena Hôtel des
Mille Collines, is Hutu but his wife, Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo), is Tutsi. His
marriage is a source of friction with Hutu extremists, most prominently George
Rutaganda, a friendly supplier to the hotel who also is the local leader of
Interahamwe, a brutal anti-Tutsi militia.
As the
political situation in the country deteriorates, Paul and his family observe
neighbors being dragged from their homes and openly beaten in the streets. Paul
curries favor with people of influence, bribing them with money and alcohol,
seeking to maintain sufficient influence to keep his family safe. When civil
war erupts and a Rwandan Army officer threatens Paul and his neighbors, Paul
barely negotiates their safety, and brings everyone to the hotel. More refugees
come to the hotel from the overburdened United Nations camp, the Red Cross, and
orphanages. Paul must divert the Hutu soldiers, care for the refugees, be a
source of strength to his family, and maintain the appearance of a functioning
high-class hotel, as the situation becomes more and more violent, with mobs in
the streets just outside the gates.
The UN
Peacekeeping forces, led by Colonel Oliver (Nick Nolte), are unable to take
assertive action against the Interhamwe since they are forbidden to intervene
in the genocide. The foreign nationals are evacuated, but the Rwandans are left
behind. When the UN forces attempt to evacuate a group of refugees, including
Paul's family, they are ambushed and must turn back. In a last-ditch effort to
save the refugees, Paul speaks to the Rwandan Army General, Augustin Bizimungu
(Fana Mokoena) and when the bribes no longer work, he blackmails him with
threats of being tried as a war criminal. The family and the hotel refugees
finally leave the besieged hotel in a UN convoy, and they travel through
retreating masses of refugees and militia to reach safety behind Tutsi rebel
lines.
From: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395169/synopsis
Updates* 3/9/17
Hotel Rwanda Study Questions (original)
Hotel Rwanda Study Questions
Hotel Rwanda Study Questions (key)
