Hotel Rwanda | 
| Director: Terry George
Actors: Xolani Mali, Don Cheadle, Desmond Dube, Hakeem Kae-kazim, Tony Kgoroge
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
List Price: $14.98
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Rating:  272 reviews
Sales Rank: 2230
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 122 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: M108739
ISBN: 079286686X
UPC: 027616925121
EAN: 9780792866862
ASIN: B0007R4T3U
Theatrical Release Date: February 4, 2005
Release Date: April 12, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: **NO ARTWORK - NEW BLANK CASE** Guaranteed to play. Normal case wear with stickers, very slight scratches. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Solidly built around a subtle yet commanding performance by Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda emerged as one of the most highly-praised dramas of 2004. In a role that demands his quietly riveting presence in nearly every scene, Cheadle plays real-life hero Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager in the Rwandan capital of Kigali who in 1994 saved 1,200 Rwandan "guests" from certain death during the genocidal clash between tribal Hutus, who slaughtered a million victims, and the horrified Tutsis, who found safe haven or died. Giving his best performance since his breakthrough role in Devil in a Blue Dress, Cheadle plays Rusesabagina as he really was during the ensuing chaos: "an expert in situational ethics" (as described by critic Roger Ebert), doing what he morally had to do, at great risk and potential sacrifice, with an understanding that wartime negotiations are largely a game of subterfuge, cooperation, and clever bribery. Aided by a United Nations official (Nick Nolte), he worked a saintly miracle, and director Terry George (Some Mother's Son) brings formidable social conscience to bear on a true story you won't soon forget. --Jeff Shannon
Product Description
Once you find out what happened in Rwanda you'll never forget. Oscar nominee* Don Cheadle (Traffic) gives "the performance of his career in this extraordinarily powerful" (The Hollywood Reporter) and moving true story of one man's brave stance against savagery during the 1994 Rwandan conflict. Sophie Okonedo (Dirty Pretty Things) co-stars as the loving wife who challenges a good man to become a great man.As his country descends into madness five-star-hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina (Cheadle) sets out to save his family. But when he sees that the world will not intervene in the massacre of minority Tutsis he finds the courage to open his hotel to more than 1200 refugees. Now with a rabid militia at the gates he must use his well-honed grace flattery and cunning to protect his guests from certain death.SPECIAL FEATURES:Audio Commentary by Director Terry George and Paul Rusesabagina With Select Commentary by Wyclef Jean Selected Scenes Commentary by Don Cheadle "A Message for Peace: Making Hotel Rwanda" Documentary "Return to Rwanda" Documentary Original Theatrical TrailerRunning Time 122 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 027616925121 Manufacturer No: M108739
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| Customer Reviews: Read 267 more reviews...
 A memorable performance in an unforgettable horror story April 17, 2005
Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota)
136 out of 151 found this review helpful
In 1994 when Rwanda descended into the bloody madness of genocide Paul Ruseasabagina (Don Cheadle) was reasonably secure in his process. He belonged to the Hutu majority that was slaughtering the minority with machetes and he was the manger of the five-star Hotel Milles Collines in Kigali. But his wife, Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo), is Tutsi and the Tutsi are not only being called "cockroaches" on the nonstop incendiary radio broadcasts they are being exterminated like them. Not only are his wife and children in danger, so is the rest of his family and so are the guests in his hotel. It is up to Ruseasabagina to do something about this madness simply because there is nobody else to do the job (it would be easier to call the character Paul, but given the story it seems important to focus on the fact he was an African).
"Hotel Rwanda" is a true story, and even though we know going in that Ruseasabagina is going to save over a thousand refugees this is still a harrowing story. For the most part the genocide happens outside the walls of the hotel, but there are enough scenes and stories of what is happening to make it clear that the people huddled in the hotel are in mortal danger. What is probably the most unforgettable moment comes while a van is being driven through the fog and appears to have gone off the road (the DVD extras also contain scenes of the unforgettable way the Tutsi have memorialized the victims of the slaughter at one location).
The explanation for why the United Nations, the Europeans, the Americans, or anybody else with a speck of humanity in them does not intervene to stop the genocide is articulated by the Colonel Oliver character played by Nick Nolte, who tells Ruseasabagina that the problem is that these are just black Africans killing other black Africans. The words are spoken in disgust and are brutal, but they are horribly true and what redeems Oliver is not only that is he is willing to articulate the brutal truth but that there will come a point where orders to stand by and do nothing are no longer going to be obeyed. Likewise, the cameraman played by Joaquin Phoenix provides a memorable scene as the Europeans leave the Milles Collines and the character is so shamed not only by the retreat but also by the presence of a hotel employee holding an umbrella over their heads in the pouring rain.
But there is one person who cannot turn his back on what is happening. Ruseasabagina is literally the right person in the right place, because only the hotel could have become a refuge for the Tutsi and only the manager of a five-star hotel could have known exactly how to placate the military men leading the massacre. Not only does he speak their language, there is a sense in which they want to speak his as well, showing that even though their arms are covered in blood they can play the role of a civilized man. Cheadle's performance, deservedly nominated for a Best Actor Oscar, is appropriately controlled just as Ruseasabagina had to be in persuading these thugs to help him. He cracks only once when a mundane part of his preparing for his job suddenly becomes an impossibility to manage. He is also a hero who is flawed, making mistakes and trying desperately to do the right thing, even if that means forcing his wife to make a fateful promise or abandoning his family to try and save others.
There is an obvious comparison to be made between "Hotel Rwanda" and "Schindler's List." But watching this 2004 film I could not help thinking that if during the Holocaust there had been images of Nazis herding Jews into the concentration camps on the nightly news nobody would have done anything either (but if a whale is trapped in an ice flow in the arctic a rescue mission shall be sent). Stories such as this emphasize the small number doing good against the large number doing evil, but there is always that even larger number signifying all the people who do nothing and assent to the evil by their silence. Those who watch "Hotel Rwanda" will find themselves counted among that final number and should well remember that even if they were oblivious to what happened in Rwanda history will repeat itself is this regard and give us another chance to do the right thing.
Too powerful to be described by mere words May 23, 2005
Amanda Richards (Georgetown, Guyana)
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
"The Kite Runner" may be the best book I have read in recent history, and without a doubt, "Hotel Rwanda" wins the corresponding prize for movies. Unable to believe the senseless violence and slaughter of innocents, my eyes opened wider and wider as the movie progressed, until at some point, the tears could not be held back any longer.
Don Cheadle aces a career making role as Paul Rusesabagina, the quiet, understated hotel manager of a five star hotel in Kigali, Rwanda, who breaks every rule in the management book to protect not only the hotel guests, but refugees from both sides of the genocide that rocked Rwanda in 1994, while the rest of the world looked the other way.
A Hutu by birth and passport stamp, Paul is married to a Tutsi woman (Sophie Okonedo, whose voice changes drastically in octave as the role demands), and by this distinction, his children are also Tutsi, and therefore branded as cockroaches to be exterminated.
Because of his position and well-placed contacts, Rusesabagina is able to cling tenuously to his little safe house, putting up a brave front for the 1200 people he is sheltering from the Hutu tribal forces. When he finds out that the UN peacekeepers cannot help them, and that the rest of the world doesn't want to know about African problems, he resorts to the local language, securing protection by whatever means necessary from the authorities, led by General Bizimungu, who has a weakness for Scottish water of life, foreign currency and self preservation. Being only human, and in a crisis situation, he makes crucial errors in judgment, but by his conviction he manages to hold it all together for as long as necessary.
There are too many powerful scenes to describe, and you have to watch the movie to fully appreciate the horror. There are no gory images as in "Saving Private Ryan" or "Blade", but the Director manages to effectively portray the despair and mass killings without being offensively graphic or crude. One of the most heart rending scenes takes place on a road in the early morning fog, and this is the final straw that rips through Rusesabagina's brittle facade of being in control.
Joaquin Phoenix (you know I have to mention him), in a small role as a cameraman sums it up best when he said "I've never been so ashamed."
This one is a must see.
Amanda Richards, May 23, 2005
 Addressing a genocide requires more than good moviemaking skills... September 25, 2005
Guy Orgambide (North Carolina, USA)
17 out of 29 found this review helpful
Reducing the massacre of 800,000 people to the acts of bravery of a single man is a disturbing approach to dealing with the 1994 Rwanda genocide. This movie is well directed and well acted but it is plagued by the obsession of Hollywood's producers to glamorize terrible historical events by making the suffering of hundreds of thousands a simple background to the actions -- albeit courageous -- of an individual. We have seen that before in movies such as "Schlinder's List" or "Saving Private Ryan". "Hotel Rwanda" goes as far as delivering a feel-good ending, just the type of movie we might have been watching on a Sunday night of Spring 1994 while overlooking the terribly efficient implementation of a genocide in a vague and far away place.
It is very unfortunate that the marketing noise that surrounded the release of "Hotel Rwanda" drowned the launch of a much better movie on the subject: "Sometimes in April", produced by a director with an African viewpoint and shot on location in Rwanda, not in South Africa like the comfortable "Hotel Rwanda".
"Sometimes in April" is an excellent movie that focuses on the events as experienced by the Rwandan people and not just one man in a relatively cosy position responding to them.
"Hotel Rwanda" is good film making, but it is not good education. And in the scope of this tragedy, learning is essential.
HUMBLING MASTERPIECE March 25, 2005
Shashank Tripathi (Gadabout)
15 out of 17 found this review helpful
To be honest, as my DVD churned to a start I wondered if I'd really enjoy a mawkish and thus possibly politically-correct Oscar hopeful related to a civil war in an African country.
Ten minutes into the film I had no memory of my doubts. Hotel Rwanda doesn't waste any time setting up it's overtly charged, suspenseful political tone. Plus, come to think of it, it may in fact be targeted at ignoramuses like myself whose apathy toward the African condition takes centerstage in its riveting drama.
Civil unrest has broken out in Rwanda and two warring tribes are at loggerheads, intent on ethnic cleansing. A massacre has been ordered by one side. Innocent civilians are being slaughtered in their gardens and backyards. One man, a hotel manager in a four star hotel in the middle of the riot-torn city, must take it upon himself to save the lives of as many people as can be packed into his premises, much to the chagrin of savage rioteers.
A throbbing game of cat and mouse ensues. Guest-starring are choice anthropoids from a largely impotent UN who lend a political undertone to the goings-on. The film is finely edited and moves along at a rapid clip as we see sacrifice, grace under fire, valor, love, even an occasional tranche of timely well-located humor.
Interestingly, the screenplay's rawness accentuates Hotel Rwanda's impact. The setup of one man doing a noble turn and saving people of different ethnicity is reminiscent of Schindler's List, but instead of Spielberg's noirish rendition, this film conjures up images of Oliver Stone's classic, Salvador, that showcased James Wood as a sparring journalist in South America. Gritty, infectious.
Nearly a million people died during this period of genocide, a toll that may have been dramatically lessened had the world not turned its back. What a truly humbling masterpiece. Recommended in a blink.
MEET A REAL HERO April 9, 2005
Robin Simmons (Palm Springs area, CA United States)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
Every now and then a movie comes along whose subject matter is so important that the art of the film is almost irrelevant.
The universally praised HOTEL RWANDA (MGM) is ordinary filmmaking about an extraordinary man. Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle) is the manager of an elite hotel who exhibits the highest, most noble of human traits when he bravely takes a stand against the barbaric, bloody savagery during the 1994 Hutu massacre of the Tutsi minority. Almost all the Tutsis were eventually slaughtered (by machete).
When his country descends into chaos, Rusesabagina first wants to save his family, assuming the world will intervene. When that doesn't happen, he opens his hotel to over a thousand refugees. When a crazed militia storms the gates of the Hotel compound, the stakes are substantially raised for his, his family's and "guests" safety.
Cheadle is magnificent as the clever, calm, quick thinking, heroic but never larger-than-life Rusesabagina. Sophie Okoneda and Nick Nolte co-star in this unforgettable film. Don't miss this rare true story about an honorable man trapped in a living nightmare of raging humanity at its most abhorrent, brutal, irrational and bestial level.
If you are reluctant to see this excellent film, fearing graphic depiction of the bloody events, fear not; almost all of it is off screen. Superior extras include "Return to Rwanda" and a commentary with the real life Paul Rusesabagina
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