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.
Nominated for 3 Oscars. 16 wins & 49 nominations total
Top Critics Reviews
fresh:
It has a genuine power: the ability of film to beam light onto dark days of history, making it impossible for us to look away, reminding us of what we should never forget.
– Moira MacDonald,
Seattle Times,
7 Jan 2005
fresh:
The almost forgotten but all too real African genocide documented in Hotel Rwanda hits us as suddenly and as hard as it does Paul Rusesabagina, the accidental hero played so masterfully by Don Cheadle.
– Peter Howell,
Toronto Star,
7 Jan 2005
fresh:
The great strength of Hotel Rwanda is that it's not about superhuman heroism but simply about human decency.
– Ann Hornaday,
Washington Post,
7 Jan 2005
fresh:
Move past the big picture, of race hatred, arbitrary maps and guilt over what the UN and the West can't or won't do, and find the human story within the inhumanity of war.
– Roger Moore,
Orlando Sentinel,
14 Jan 2005
rotten:
Showing traces of the well-meaning paternalism that dogs many Western films about Africa, Hotel Rwanda doesn't go far enough in indicting Europeans and Americans for protecting their own while failing to intervene in time to stop the mass killings.