Hotel Rwanda

Hotel Rwanda
You turn on the television and you hear those same sympathetic words of a Caucasian person. They sit in a hut with an African child sitting on their lap. They ask for your help, your time, and your money. They tell you all the things that could be possible if you only contributed whatever you possibly could donate to their foundation. What do you think about this form of outreach? Do you listen to their message or do you ignore it and change the channel? Many people do not take these “commercials” seriously. Most people believe that there really isn’t anything that they cannot do that could possibly help them, while some believe that their money won’t reach those children and that those people seen in the commercials with them are just trying to look as though they care and they will take the money themselves. And some wonder “why can’t they (the Caucasian) help them, they’re rich, I’m not!” What would you do? After watching Hotel Rwanda, I feel bad that I have thought some of these thoughts as I watched these commercials come on television. Hotel Rwanda makes people feel really bad about not lending any type of help to any one in Africa who may need help.
In the beginning of the movie there was a sense of happiness it made you smile but slowly there was a change in the mood. When soldiers are spotted on the streets is the ultimate point of no return. They came to the house of the Rusesabagina’s neighbor and arrested them. There were a few noticeable signs of foreshadowing before the actual soldiers were spotted. Paul’s brother in law warned him of many of things that actually happened. The radio reporter seemed to be the person that conducted everything that happened. My initial reaction to the news reporter was that he was the one hyping everyone up. He provided everyone with his opinions and all through the movie majority of the people stayed close to a radio. Whenever the reporter got excited or upset it changed something else that happened in the movie. Another factor that I reacted to in the movie was the choice of music. The music used in the movie played a great factor in my emotions toward the movie. When ever the soldiers were involved the music would be dark and suspenseful. The scenes where the soldiers were involved were times of seriousness intensity and the music provoked this mood. As they passed through the towns and villages to the hotel the music changed to a sorrowful sounding piece. This trend continued throughout the movie. One scene in the movie that was really emotional for me was when the white people were being loaded into the bus to be taken away to safety. There was a missionary group running towards the bus in the rain as the song of children played in the background. This scene was very emotional. I realize that the Hutus are killing off children to stop the next generation. But the song creates a lot of emotion at one time. Then the scene that goes along with it is very heart wrenching. The little African children are being ripped away from the only people that are left to care about them. The nuns and missionaries are torn away from the children that have attached themselves to the adults. The African adults have their hands raised to the skies. This symbolizes the hope that they have no matter the situation. They are strong willed and believe that they will be saved from this. This song alone brings tears to my eyes but the looks of disgust and amazement on the faces of the Caucasians that are safe on the buses. One man even has a camera out while the woman next to him has her dog in her lap. This shows that the Africans were not even worth as much as a dog. Animals of Caucasians were of much more importance than actual human beings. This scene was just one of many very touching scenes.
Hotel Rwanda was a very great movie, it was very intense. The intensity along with its hope would make anyone rethink how they look at the commercials to help the needy children on the commercials. This was my first time completely watching Hotel Rwanda and I would gladly watch it over and over again and I would recommend it to everyone, it is truly a life changing experience.