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10/10
Essential viewing for anyone who believes 'it couldn't happen here' - wherever 'here' is...
cinnamonbrandy23 April 2007
If this film has a fault, it's that it doesn't spend long enough establishing 'Rwanda - not that different from Mytown, United States of RightHere'.

But then, it could spend twice as long and not succeed, or half as long and succeed - it's one of those things that's more dependant on the baggage you bring along, than on the skills of the film-makers.

Almost, I wanted the main characters to be played by Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte - almost, I said! - because it would have made better propaganda, then, even though it probably would have been not nearly as good a film.

I'm not saying it doesn't deserve to succeed as a film, either - just that it seems such necessary propaganda for the times we live in.

Someone else has written 'The country was in turmoil and the words never again never implied towards Africans or others unworthy of such saving.' I would like this person to go back to what they read and do the research again - please. I'm sure they don't intend to come across as a racist bigot, and I'm sure that's an unfair impression for me to take away.

But.

This is one of those films that I intend to keep and re-watch once in a while. My shelf of such films includes only 7, and before I watched this, there were only 6.

Helen
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9/10
Behind the Making of History!
Sylviastel23 April 2007
In this mini-documentary that accompanied the DVD versions, we meet the inspiration for Don Cheadle's Oscar nominated performance as Paul, the Rwandan Hutu, who saves over a thousand refugees during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. I thought it was ironic that the genocide came upon the heels of Spielberg's Schindler's List winning Best Picture. Anyway, the Belfast born director does provide an insight into the story behind the movie as does the screenwriter who discovers a survivor by calling the Rwandan Embassy in Washington D.C. and listening to her story. The story itself is worth seeing and telling because Paul was truly heroic by risking his life to save others at the posh Belgian-owned hotel. Too bad, we didn't see the other actors and actresses in the cast like Nick Nolte, Joaquin Phoenix, and Sophie (who played his wife).
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