Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Hotel Rwanda

I just got back from watching Hotel Rwanda. It is quite an intense look at the insanity which occurred there. Having read Philip Gourevitch's We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families, the movie seemed somewhat inadequate.
Touching, brutal indeed. But it only skims the reality of the terrors which occurred.
Don Cheadle, one of my favorite actors, did a fine job. Really, I don't think it was his best, but he did fine. Nolte wasn't convincing. He was too,... Nolte. He looked like a tattered old drunk rather than a colonel.
And another thing that bothered me about the movie: Considering the atrocities committed in Rwanda. The violence was,... not substantial enough. It was rated PG-13 for crying out loud! 1 million massacred by machete, and it gets PG-13!.
Eventually one will be made of Capt. Mbaye Diagne, who wasn't even mentioned in Hotel Rwanda. That guy is a badass. Much respect for Mbaye.
So, Hotel Rwanda is definitely a must see. But see it on DVD, or at least when it comes out on network. Since it's PG-13, they won't even need to ultra-censor it. But they probably will anyway.

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