Hotel Rwanda: Genocide As Told By Hollywood
Joe McNally/Getty ImagesRefugees of the Rwandan Genocide stand atop a hill near hundreds of makeshift homes in Zaire in December 1996.
Terry George’s 2004 film Hotel Rwanda chronicles the civil unrest between the country’s majority Hutu and minority Tutsi populations, and the subsequent Rwandan genocide of over 800,000 civilians in 1994. The movie follows a fictionalized version of the manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines on his journey to rescue as many citizens from the slaughter as possible.
When President Juvénal Habyarimana’s plane was shot down over Kigali airport on April 6, 1994, tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi violently exploded. The death toll in the following three months was nearly equal to the entire military body count of Brits in World War I.
The manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines, Paul Rusesabagina, is portrayed with astonishing humanity by Don Cheadle in the film. He was nominated for Best Actor for his work, though critics have claimed that the narrative took some rather significant liberties.
Lionsgate FilmsAs far as movies based on true stories go, critics were more taken with Don Cheadle’s portrayal of Paul Rusesabagina than they were with its depiction of reality.
Rusesabagina is shown tirelessly working to keep influential generals at bay with goods and services while sheltering as many people as possible within the confines of his hotel.
While the movie depicts Rusesabagina as a saint, some survivors have claimed he extorted money from them, refused to let people inside who didn’t have the means, or forced people to vacate their rooms if they couldn’t pay.
The script also staunchly criticizes the impact — or arguable lack thereof — that the United Nations had protecting the lives of civilians during this humanitarian crisis.
It seemed the U.N. had taken a non-intervention stance on the crisis and failed to curb the death toll of hundreds of thousands of Rwandans who were either shot or slaughtered to death with machetes. The U.N. admitted to its failures in 1999 and again on the genocide’s 20th anniversary.
“We’re here as peacekeepers, not peacemakers,” the fictional Colonel Oliver tells Rusesabagina, when asked why he isn’t interfering with the violence. Oliver was based on the real-life Canadian U.N. General Roméo Dallaire.
But Hotel Rwanda incorrectly conveys Dallaire’s role in the crisis. By all accounts, he tried everything in his power to keep people safe. According to Huffington Post, Dallaire, therefore, strongly advises anyone interested in what really happened to read Inside The Hotel Rwanda: The Surprising True Story…And Why It Matters Today.
“For those who have learned of this story only through the famous movie Hotel Rwanda, the story of Edouard Kayihura is a privileged opportunity to put reality to the Hollywood dramatization,” he said.
Terry George asserted that any allegations against Rusesabagina were part of a “smear campaign,” but Kayihura’s book depressingly suggests otherwise. In it, Rusesabagina is exposed as an opportunist who touts his mythologized accomplishments while denying the genocide even took place.
While he established a foundation and later received exorbitant fees as a speaker, none of the funds his non-profit received have ever been allocated to Rwandan orphans of the 1994 atrocities.
Reports have even corroborated that some of the funds could’ve also been redirected to arm the FDLR anti-Tutsi rebel group. This militant arm operated in the eastern Congo as recently as the 2000s, and Rusesabagina was even arrested and questioned about his involvement in Brussels in 2011.
Separating fact from fiction in Hotel Rwanda isn’t an easy task, considering that the real-life truth is muddled to begin with.
