Hotel Rwanda
3 Oscar Nominations
Rent/Purchase
Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.
What critics thought
Hotel Rwanda earns broad admiration as a gripping dramatization of the 1994 genocide, with Don Cheadle's performance drawing nearly universal attention — though critics split sharply over whether the film's restrained, humanizing approach to its harrowing subject is a strength or a failure of nerve. Those who admired it found it emotionally devastating and morally urgent; detractors felt the conventional filmmaking muffled the horror it set out to convey.
“Cheadle impressively carries the entire picture, delivering the kind of note-perfect performance that's absolutely deserving of Oscar consideration.”
Michael Rechtshaffen·The Hollywood Reporter
“Hotel Rwanda is a strange history lesson that leaves us more overlectured than properly overwhelmed.”
Lisa Schwarzbaum·Entertainment Weekly
“Like the majority of movies about the last century of holocausts, Hotel Rwanda is as earnest and tasteful as its creators. To capture the white-hot terror of social calamity, someone a little more lawless and fierce might be called for.”
Michael Atkinson·The Village Voice
“brutal and shocking when it needs to be, but it also has great emotional scope and power. We find ourselves enmeshed in Paul's struggle, sharing his despair at the warfare tearing apart his country, his frustration and anger at the U.N.'s inability to act, and, eventually, his hope for a better tomorrow.”
James Berardinelli·ReelViews
“[A] flat, cramped staging which, combined with d.p. Robert Fraisse's harsh overlighting, gives the film the feel of a cheap backlot production, even though it was shot on location.”
Scott Foundas·Variety
Genres
Biography, Drama, History
Cast & Crew
DirectorTerry George
StarringDon Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Nick Nolte, Fana Mokoena, Desmond Dube
ComposerRupert Gregson-Williams, Martin Russell, Andrea Guerra
Hotel Rwanda
3 Oscar Nominations
Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.
What critics thought
Hotel Rwanda earns broad admiration as a gripping dramatization of the 1994 genocide, with Don Cheadle's performance drawing nearly universal attention — though critics split sharply over whether the film's restrained, humanizing approach to its harrowing subject is a strength or a failure of nerve. Those who admired it found it emotionally devastating and morally urgent; detractors felt the conventional filmmaking muffled the horror it set out to convey.
“Cheadle impressively carries the entire picture, delivering the kind of note-perfect performance that's absolutely deserving of Oscar consideration.”
Michael Rechtshaffen·The Hollywood Reporter
“Hotel Rwanda is a strange history lesson that leaves us more overlectured than properly overwhelmed.”
Lisa Schwarzbaum·Entertainment Weekly
“Like the majority of movies about the last century of holocausts, Hotel Rwanda is as earnest and tasteful as its creators. To capture the white-hot terror of social calamity, someone a little more lawless and fierce might be called for.”
Michael Atkinson·The Village Voice
“brutal and shocking when it needs to be, but it also has great emotional scope and power. We find ourselves enmeshed in Paul's struggle, sharing his despair at the warfare tearing apart his country, his frustration and anger at the U.N.'s inability to act, and, eventually, his hope for a better tomorrow.”
James Berardinelli·ReelViews
“[A] flat, cramped staging which, combined with d.p. Robert Fraisse's harsh overlighting, gives the film the feel of a cheap backlot production, even though it was shot on location.”
Scott Foundas·Variety
Genres
Biography, Drama, History
Cast & Crew
DirectorTerry George
StarringDon Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Nick Nolte, Fana Mokoena, Desmond Dube
ComposerRupert Gregson-Williams, Martin Russell, Andrea Guerra
Rent/Purchase