Friday, January 07, 2005
Yesterday, was spent in the dentist chair, hair salon and work. Fortunately I got a call to see Hotel Rwanda it was showing at the AMC in Emeryville.
It's strange to see a movie about genocide. A true event where 1 Million people were killed in 100 days. It's hard to fathom killing at such a level. The film is rated PG-13 so the level of violence presented in the film doesn't really capture what Rwanda must have felt like when neighbor was killing neighbor. But the film didn't need to become a horror movie visually.
The film's focus is the story of Paul Rusesabagina who saved over 1000 individuals through his skill of negotiation and quick thinking. Don Cheadle plays Rusesabagina, his performance was elegant; he portrays a man transforming as the world around him changes so cruelly and dramatically. The film also captures how the West ignored the Rwanda genocide but sowed the seeds for genocide through colonalisation. I wouldn't call it an enjoyable film but one people should see. The tragedy needs to stay in our memory and should be told in every medium possible.
If you want to read about the Rwanda Genocide I can recommend "Samantha Power's "A Problem From Hell America iand the Age of Genocide". and Philip Gourevitch "We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families."
Also Frontline, The Ghost of Rwanda is very good. I believe the program is online for viewing.
We may be in the image of God but we're surely enveloped in the body and mind of the beast.
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It's strange to see a movie about genocide. A true event where 1 Million people were killed in 100 days. It's hard to fathom killing at such a level. The film is rated PG-13 so the level of violence presented in the film doesn't really capture what Rwanda must have felt like when neighbor was killing neighbor. But the film didn't need to become a horror movie visually.
The film's focus is the story of Paul Rusesabagina who saved over 1000 individuals through his skill of negotiation and quick thinking. Don Cheadle plays Rusesabagina, his performance was elegant; he portrays a man transforming as the world around him changes so cruelly and dramatically. The film also captures how the West ignored the Rwanda genocide but sowed the seeds for genocide through colonalisation. I wouldn't call it an enjoyable film but one people should see. The tragedy needs to stay in our memory and should be told in every medium possible.
If you want to read about the Rwanda Genocide I can recommend "Samantha Power's "A Problem From Hell America iand the Age of Genocide". and Philip Gourevitch "We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families."
Also Frontline, The Ghost of Rwanda is very good. I believe the program is online for viewing.
We may be in the image of God but we're surely enveloped in the body and mind of the beast.
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