Hotel Rwanda

I love movies/books that are based on true events. It makes me feel like I am a part of the story myself. And this film was incredible! I can not believe I waited this long to see it. This film tells the obviously tragic story of a hotel manager who fought impossible odds to protect more than a thousand refugees during a war between factions in Rwanda. Don Cheadle's performance was superb (but he still lost the Oscar win to Jamie Foxx in Ray...give me a break!), and all the supporting actors were also incredibly powerful and moving.

I am so glad that there are writers, directors, and producers out their who continue to make such high quality films expressing the tragedies that are happening in our world every day. I mean, this movie is based on real events that took place in 1994...probably while I was at volleyball practice, or at a school dance. I think that sometimes the media does such an excellent job of portraying real life events that it makes people like me sit and think about what we can do to help the plight of the underprivileged. However, sometimes it just helps me to NEVER want to leave the country again! I will admit, I am very naive as to the wars and conflicts in Africa...and most of the knowledge that I do have comes from movies (like Blood Diamond and The Last King of Scotland) which do not portray a very positive outlook as to the goings on in Africa. Anyway, so as to not embarrass myself any further due to my naivete regarding the political situation of the world, I will change the subject.

I am SHOCKED that this film did not win anything at the Academy Awards...and that it was not nominated for best picture. I would have voted for this one over Million Dollar Baby in a second! Seriously, it was robbed. Due to the violence and adult content, I would not recommend this movie to families with small children, but this is a must see for everyone else. There were a number of scenes that moved me to tears, starting with the buses removing all of the foreign nationals and leaving behind all the children...I have a soft spot for the children. At the end of the movie I looked to Dan, with tears in my eyes, and told him that we have room for at least 6 of those little orphaned refugee babies...he just rolled his eyes at me while I wept. To sum up my critique in a nutshell, I have only one word...WOW!!!! This is the first movie review on this blog to receive 5 pigs.