Shake hands with the Devil

The movie shake hand with the devil directed by Roger Spottiswoode was intense, interesting and informative. The film focuses around general Romeo Dallaire who was a Canadian UN general put in charge of the peacekeeping mission in Rwanda. It shows how little help, funding and information they were given going into the mission. They weren’t even given enough ammo to use, and every vehicle they had been breaking down and almost useless.

                What I like most about this film was the way that they don’t focus only on how it was during the genocide, but how it looked at all the factors behind it, and what happened to the people afterwards. It shows the mental effect it had on Dallaire. The whole movie is bursting with facts and I learned a lot more out of this than any other movie I’ve seen on the genocide. The facts, with the exciting scenes keep you interested and make you want to do something to help.

                Another reason I really enjoyed this film was because it seemed so real, at some points it seems more like a documentary than a movie. They actually went to Rwanda to film on the real sights where all these tragic events took place so it makes it seem like you’re watching the real thing go down. I think that for a film that has a serious tone all throughout it that this is very important. It wouldn’t be taken as serious if you could tell that it was on a set somewhere in the US. Without all the lights and fake backgrounds and bright colours, you get a grittier, almost realistic view on how things actually were.

                Overall I would give this movie 3 out of 5 stars. The reason I wouldn’t give it a perfect rating is because it does lack some excitement and there are a few scenes I could have done without. Also some of the scenes seem dragged out and shouldn’t last as long as they do.

Hotel Rwanda

Hotel Rwanda Review

            Hotel Rwanda is a film about a man named Paul Rusesabagina who was a successful manager of the mille collines hotel in Rwanda. Before the genocide started Paul was a stand up man. He was liked and respected by majority of his staff and had a couple important people who he could ask for favours. When the genocide begins Paul does all he can for his family to keep them safe. His wife Tatiana is a Tutsi, so that means that the Hutu extremists are looking to kill her and the kids. Paul being a Hutu would have made him a little bit less of a target, but he does everything he can for his wife and kids, which would still make the extremists want to kill him.

            Paul takes action by getting his family and a couple fortunate others to the hotel he was working at. However before they get there some soldiers capture them and a couple of their neighbours. The soldier in charge gives Paul a gun and tells him to shoot them all. Instead, using quick thinking he bribes the soldier with all the money he had on him, plus more when they got to the hotel. It works and now Paul is responsible for protecting, feeding and sheltering more than 1000 refugees. While there are UN soldiers at the gates trying to keep the people safe, Interhamwe militia have set up barricades just outside of the hotel. This are getting chaotic and even some of the staff have stopped working because they are scared, and think that Paul can’t do anything for them anymore. Then another soldier, maybe a lieutenant, comes into the hotel and demands to see the guest list on the computer. After Dube, Pauls assistant tells him that more than half of the files have been taken out the lieutenant is just about to order his men to kill everybody in the hotel. Once again Paul uses quick thinking and his connections to get them out of the mess.

            I really like Paul as a person. Even if only half of the things he did in the movie were true, he is still the most selfless and compassionate man i know of. Giving up all of his money and taking on the burden of keeping that many refugees safe is something that not many people would have done. The average person would have worried about their family and that’s it. While caring about his family deeply Paul has managed to keep many more family in tact by letting them stay in the hotel. When the UN starts to take out only white people and western natives, Paul openly accepts many more people into the hotel, he starts to think about the options he has and how wrong it is that they are leaving the rest of them to die. The UN eventually gets them all out of the hotel by using massive trucks, but the interhamwe still make it difficult for them to leave.

            I would say overall this movie is great. Aside from not having enough of the facts about the genocide any more just focusing on drama, this movie is exciting and has you on the edge of your seat cheering for Paul hoping that he gets out okay.