Hotel Rwanda

It is a very easy thing to say, at the end of a powerful movie, that it was the ‘best’ movie you have ever seen. In that moment, the emotions are powerful, the memories fresh and the sentiments still echoing in your mind. Yet, with time, those beliefs often diminish and timely perspective helps you rearrange the films you have watched into a more logical priority.

Hotel Rwanda is the best movie I have ever seen. Mind you, I’m not saying it is the most enjoyable movie I have ever watched. Quite the opposite in fact. This was the most painful movie I have ever watched. Nearly the entire film was a heart and gut wrenching mass of emotion.

That fact makes me comfortable saying it was the best movie I’ve ever watched. Honestly, if a movie makes you that uncomfortable and you still respond with praise, it must be an amazing film.

Now, I won’t bore you to death with a long series of reasons to see the film. Instead, I will only include the top few.

Reason one: Paul Rusesabagina is the most intelligent character ever portrayed

Let’s start with Paul Rusesabagina’s (played by Don Cheadle) role in the movie. I’m not certain how close to the truth the movie reflected this man’s talent. If it is only half accurate, this gentleman is brilliant. His efforts alone speak highly of him, but his ability to see through the political climate, to make hard and painful choices and to not only survive, but to put so much on the line (his life and, more importantly, his wife and children’s lives) to save so many makes him one of the finest people this planet has ever created.

Reason two: Get out of your comfort zone

It is very easy to complain about our circumstances. I, for example, have recently complained about being hungry and not having slept well. At the time, I may have ranked those discomforts a bit higher than, oh, 1 on a scale of 10. After watching this movie, I may possess, for a limited time, the ability to objectify life’s little difficulties as exactly that: little. Compared to the fear, lack of life’s basics and losing relatives while not knowing if they could even be alive, my issues were negligible at best.

That type of objectivity can only come when someone steps or is taken out of their comfort zone for even a small amount of time. There have only been a few other moments in life, none of them mediated, that have caused that type of objectivity. One, as an example, was seeing and being aware of the plight of the retired elderly in Romania (not to pick on Romania, my wife’s home country, as most developing countries suffer the same support failures over time and the U.S. isn’t free of such sins) when I walked through the subway and ran face to face with elderly women begging in the subway. Not begging as we often see in North America (have to broaden my concept of PLACE now that I reside in Canada), where we see fairly able-bodied people, some youths, asking for money rather than taking jobs. But people who, to the naked eye, are obviously in failing health, lacking adequate healthcare, basic shelter and nutrition.

Kind of amazing that a movie could bring about that level of awareness, eh? So, yes, it was a good movie.

Reason three: Excellent direction

When I studied instructional technology in grad school, one basic rule has stood with me over time: good design does not stand out and should not bring notice to itself. This movie is a cinematic achievement of that basic principal. The direction was basic, allowing the story to unfold through conversation (I do not recall any narrative in the film) and action. No CG, no green screen. No unnecessary gore or violence (though there is plenty of that). Only the core aspects of a story worth bringing to the big screen.

I could go on about the script, the individual actors and the political motivation to bring such a story to the Western populace. But I won’t. This movie will drag you in, educate you on the horrors of what this world can dish out and allow you to return to your own world with a better understanding of what you do have and the ability to respect it a bit more.