Hotel Rwanda

( 14 )

Overview

Terry George's drama Hotel Rwanda turned horrific real-life events into inspiring drama, and helped bring public attention to a news story that was ignored by much of the world. The extras on the DVD release of the film balance a behind-the-scenes look at the production with the desire to include more historical context. Director Terry George, composer Wyclef Jean, lead actor Don Cheadle, and Paul Rusesabagina (the real-life person Cheadle portrayed) all provide commentary at different points throughout the ...
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More About This Product

Overview

Terry George's drama Hotel Rwanda turned horrific real-life events into inspiring drama, and helped bring public attention to a news story that was ignored by much of the world. The extras on the DVD release of the film balance a behind-the-scenes look at the production with the desire to include more historical context. Director Terry George, composer Wyclef Jean, lead actor Don Cheadle, and Paul Rusesabagina (the real-life person Cheadle portrayed) all provide commentary at different points throughout the movie. The "Return to Rwanda" featurette follows Rusesabagina as he visits the sites depicted in the film for the first time since he fled the country. The film is presented in a widescreen transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital 5.1, while a French soundtrack has been recorded in Dolby Digital Surround. English, French, and Spanish subtitles are accessible. This is a disc that will appeal to the film's fans, as well as to those with an interest in the historical events at the heart of the movie.
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Special Features

Closed Caption; "A Message for Peace: Making Hotel Rwanda" documentary; "Return to Rwanda" documentary; Selected scenes commentary by Don Cheadle; Audio commentary by director Terry George and the real-life subject of the film, Paul Rusesabagina, with select commentary by musician Wyclef Jean
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Editorial Reviews

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse
In 1994, a million Rwandans were slaughtered by their countrymen while the rest of the world looked in the other direction. You wouldn’t think an uplifting movie could be made about such a shameful episode, but that’s precisely what writer-director Terry George has accomplished. Hotel Rwanda unfolds against the blood-spattered backdrop of that genocidal massacre, although the film’s focus remains fixed on one man: hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina Don Cheadle, in an Oscar-nominated performance, who runs the four-star Hotel Des Milles Collines in Kigali, the capital city. Rusesabagina, by birth a member of the ruling Hutu tribe, has a more cosmopolitan background than most of his people and therefore recoils at the systematic decimation of the Tutsi tribe. When it becomes apparent that the United Nations will not intervene, he assumes responsibility for the 1,200 Tutsi refugees that have flocked to his hotel. Cheadle is absolutely riveting at Rusesabagina, a resourceful pragmatist who uses the diplomatic skills of his profession to mollify a murderous Hutu general and resorts to innumerable deceptions to conceal his “guests.” Also hugely effective in their roles are Nick Nolte, playing a UN peacekeeper frustrated by bureaucratic indifference, and Sophie Okonedo, as Paul’s Tutsi wife, who is forced to flee for her own safety as her husband risks his life. The film depicts all the desperate but ingenious methods Rusesabagina employs to safeguard the refugees: lies, bribery, and even blackmail. He’s not a superhero, just a man whose conscience compels him to perform heroic acts. Watching him make the attempt is what makes Hotel Rwanda so uplifting, and filmmaker George deserves great credit for bringing this amazing story to the screen with such passion and dignity.
All Movie Guide - Josh Ralske
Terry George's powerful Hotel Rwanda has more than a passing similarity to Schindler's List. Both films feature a smooth-talking protagonist who gradually develops a powerful conscience, to the point where he will risk his own life to save strangers. Both films also focus on a relatively uplifting and hopeful side story to an overwhelming real-life tragedy. In the end, though, Hotel Rwanda is not about one great man. George conveys the horrific scale and barbarity of the Rwandan massacre with grace and efficiency, while eschewing graphic violence, and showing mainly its results. The redoubtable Don Cheadle delivers a passionate yet nuanced performance. But perhaps the film's greatest strength is that it manages to convey the context, both historical and global, in which these events took place without relying heavily on titles or obvious exposition. A simple scene in which Paul Rusesabagina (Cheadle) explains the origins of the conflict between Hutus and Tutsis to a reporter (Joaquin Phoenix) effectively conveys the situation's roots in colonialism and its contemporary absurdity, heightening the sense of tragedy. Phoenix's reporter has a key line later in the film, when he tells Paul that people will look at the terrible images he's captured on videotape that day, "say, 'Oh, that's horrible,' and then go back to their dinners." Hotel Rwanda is not a perfect drama. It's disappointingly conventional in its use of music, for example, and there is at least one moment of high drama that seems tasteless in contriving suspense. But it's an important film nevertheless that brings this critical juncture in recent history to vibrant life, and boldly implicates its audience in the tragedy it depicts, in an effort to make us examine our own responsibility as citizens of the world.
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert

The film works not because the screen is filled with meaningless special effects, formless action and vast digital armies, but because Cheadle, Nolte and the filmmakers are interested in how two men choose to function in an impossible situation. Because we sympathize with these men, we are moved by the film.
New York Post - Lou Lumenick

One of the year's best.


The film works not because the screen is filled with meaningless special effects, formless action and vast digital armies, but because Cheadle, Nolte and the filmmakers are interested in how two men choose to function in an impossible situation. Because we sympathize with these men, we are moved by the film.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 4/12/2005
  • UPC: 027616925121
  • Original Release: 2004

    • Rating:

  • Source: Mgm (Video & Dvd)
  • Region Code: 1
  • Aspect Ratio: Cinemascope (2.35:1)
  • Presentation: Widescreen
  • Language: English, Français
  • Time: 2:02:00
  • Format: DVD
  • Sales rank: 4,101

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Don Cheadle Paul Rusesabagina
Sophie Okonedo Tatiana Rusesabagina
Joaquin Phoenix Jack
Nick Nolte Colonel Oliver
Jean Reno
Desmond Dube
Leleti Khumalo
Mothusi Magano
Technical Credits
Terry George Director, Producer, Screenwriter
Afro Celt Sound System Score Composer
Sam Bhembe Executive Producer
Johnny Breedt Production Designer
Tony Burrough Production Designer
Ruy Filipe Costumes/Costume Designer
Robert Fraisse Cinematographer
Naomi Geraghty Editor
Andrea Guerra Score Composer
A. Kitman Ho Producer
Martin F. Katz Executive Producer
John Midgley Sound/Sound Designer
Luigi Musini Co-producer
Keir Pearson Screenwriter
Bridget Pickering Co-producer
Duncan Reid Executive Producer
Paul Rusesabagina Consultant/advisor
Hal Sadoff Executive Producer
Rupert Gregson-Williams Score Composer
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Scene Index

Side #1 --
1. Hutu Power!/Main Title [5:58]
2. A Little Something Special [2:05]
3. Soldiers in the Street [4:25]
4. What Makes a Tutsi? [2:56]
5. A Plea to Leave [6:33]
6. "Cut the Tall Trees Now" [4:46]
7. Money for Cockroaches [3:59]
8. Guests at the Mille Collines [6:52]
9. Peacekeepers, Not Makers [3:45]
10. "A Massacre" on TV [4:35]
11. Targeting Tutsi Children [2:14]
12. "We Think You're Dirt" [8:44]
13. Buying Time, Nothing Else [7:34]
14. Forever Four Stars [5:51]
15. Halfway There Already [4:01]
16. On the Road of Death [4:46]
17. A Bribe and a Promise [4:32]
18. Exit Visas for Some [5:10]
19. Radio Ambush [6:15]
20. Protected No More [3:27]
21. Designated War Criminal [7:42]
22. Going Someplace Safe [4:38]
23. Where Are the Children? [4:07]
24. Epilogue/End Credits [6:41]
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Menu

Side #1 --
   Play Movie
   Scenes
   Features
      Audio Commentary by Director Terry George and Paul Rusesabagina, With Select Commentary by Wyclef Jean: On
      Audio Commentary by Director Terry George and Paul Rusesabagina, With Select Commentary by Wyclef Jean: Off
      Selected Scenes Commentary by Don Cheadle
      "A Message for Peace: Making Hotel Rwanda"
      "Return to Rwanda"
      Theatrical Trailer
      Other Great MGM Releases
         MGM Means Great Movies
         Osama
         Hart's War
         Manic
         Bowling for Columbine
         The Yes Men
      More Great MGM Releases
   Languages
      Spoken Languages: English 5.1 Surround
      Spoken Languages: French Stereo Surround
      Subtitles: English
      Subtitles: Español
      Subtitles: Français
      Subtitles: None
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 5
( 14 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(12)

4 Star

(1)

3 Star

(1)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

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Sort by: Showing all of 14 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Could've Been Better

    It was a good movie, however I did not feel that it did justice to the amount of violence used by the Hutu's in the genocide. I have done a lot of reading on this subject, and felt that some of the necessary factors were left out of this story. Otherwise, I feel that it was a good movie for those who have had no previous knowledge of the massacres in Rwanda. I hope that in the future we can prevent this from happening ever again....

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    it is for the children that we must teach love

    Hotel Rwanda is a powerful movie about real circumstances that not only showed the worse of man but the best of man in Paul Russesagabina's compassion for his fellow countrymen. The tribal issues in Rwanda, and in Africa as a whole, are so deeply embedded that its firm grip on racial and political circumstances is beyond the scope of humane treatment. Hopefully, this movie opened up to the world that brutal and systematic destruction of cultures must not be tolerated. We need to embrace and teach respect and tolerance for all cultures, races and living things on Mother Earth. Otherwise, it is frightening to think that genocide and its incomprehensible suffering will happen again and again.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Execellent Movie Brings Moving Story To Life

    Movies are supposed to move you, make you act. If Hotel Rwanda was made during the despicable massacre of the Tutsis during the 1990s, everyone that watches this film would feel compelled to act. Don Cheadle magnificently takes the role of a hotel manager who attempts to shelter Tutsis who otherwise would have been brutally murdered. In doing so, despite being a Hutu, he risks his life. His courage touches all viewers as he risks his and his family's life again and again to make sure that as many as possible survive. Although a depressing film, it should be seen by everyone as a reminder to help those in the world who face genocide like this. The world should not stand by like they did in the Rwandan massacre and intervene to stop crimes against humanity whenever they can.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    The nature of man

    We've spent a lot of time looking at racism in the US. But this movie illustrates that people of all races will kill, rape, and rob. This movie is not for the faint of heart. A lot of violence. I wonder if we're degenerating as a world.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Amazing!!!

    Paul Rusesibagina is a man who not only opened his doors to the Tutsi people, he opened his heart to them. He was a Hutu man and didn't follow the Hutu ways. Through the whole movie, Rusesibagina protects his family and friends by many ways. This movie is a must buy. I loved it and I'm sure you'll love it also. It's an inspiring movie that teaches you the bad side of people and yet it shows the amazing, heartwarming side of men.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    An Excellent Movie

    Hotel Rwanda is an amazing movie that depicts the Rwandan Genocide of the early 1990's. The movie is inspiring and it sends a deeply powerful message of hope. I would recommend this great movie to anyone. Words cannot say how good it was.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    A BEAUTIFUL, POWERFUL MOVIE

    Hotel Rwanda is a beautiful movie that did not get enough credit for what it truly did. Paul Rusesabagina was indeed a courageous man for the hellacious ride he went through to protect his people. Don Cheadle's performance as Paul is astounding and beyond compare to any others that try to match it. This film should have been nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and should have at least won one Academy Award but did not. An unfortuante circumstance indeed.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Should Have Been a Best Picture Nominee

    This movie was so gripping. I was looking forward to this movie, as I've followed the genocide from the beginning (I was 12) and have watched the civil wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo with the same earnest. It's sad to see this area of the world come up on Doctors Without Borders Top 10 Most Underreported Stories each year. Don Cheadle gives a career-defining performance. The extras are so believable in their hatred that I cry at the amount of hatred that people can have. Joaquin Phoenix was perfect for the role of the renegade journalist. And the refugee flow at the end of the movie looks just like the photos I've seen over the years. Buy this DVD - you won't regret it. I can't wait to see the extra features - something I usually don't watch on a DVD.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Most Powerful Movie

    I saw Hotel Rwanda twice within a week's time. God bless Paul Russesagabina for what he did in 1994, and God bless Don Cheadle for his wonderful portrayal of Paul. This is a riveting, powerful movie.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    INCREDIBLE!!

    This movie is a must buy!! It is one of the most moving movies I've ever seen in my life, and it's intensity never stops. Overall, this is a classic.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 13, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted April 27, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 10, 2008

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted August 6, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

Sort by: Showing all of 14 Customer Reviews