Hotel Rwanda (2004)

As horrifically sad as this film is, and as great the tragedies in Africa are and remain, the overriding impression I wind up getting from every movie trying to encapsulate these atrocities is of missed opportunity. So here again we have Rwanda 1994 at the eruption of civil war and genocide. Danger surrounds an upscale hotel while the UN turns its back on a massacre, and in the middle is the Schindler-like Paul Rusesabagina, played by Don Cheadle. It's concerning stuff, but the film very rarely manages to capture the bigger struggle, the desperate strife, and the titanic losses that this or any other similar conflict (and there are plenty) entails. With that out of the way, as a small-scale story of love and of fear it is fairly effective. Cheadle in particular puts on a career-defining show amid a cast of very consistent performances. If it weren't for the fact that this is a mostly true story about a tragically real predicament, the small scale of the story would be fine. Maybe it's because the worst of Africa's troubles are so epic they can't be captured in film, but though it's more effective than most, Hotel Rwanda isn't the galvanizing piece of work it ought to be. It's well made, but sadly not definitive. Crises this big need better.

7 out of 10.