Topic > The Depiction of the Rwandan Genocide in the Film Hotel Rwanda

'Hotel Rwanda' is a film released in 2004, showing the events of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide as seen by the hotel manager, Paul Rusesabagina. Romeo Dallaire, head of the United Nations Mission in Rwanda, criticizes the way the film portrayed the genocide in its accuracy of events. He criticized how the director could “produce rubbish like that” and believed that its “only value” was “that it keeps the Rwandan genocide alive”. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Dallaire lived through the genocide and fully understands the brutality involved. This is one of his criticisms because in the film “the story is distorted”. The film does not capture the extreme violence and brutality of the genocide as an anonymous woman survivor of the genocide recalls that "100 men or more raped me". The film undermines horrors like this as it is only rated "PG-13" to drum up viewership for more money rather than historical accuracy. Furthermore, the film only shows Rusesabagina's view of the events and does not include the opinions of the victims of the genocide who could have provided a better understanding of what really happened, which would have increased the historical accuracy of the film. Rusesabagina's heroic portrayal faced severe criticism from genocide survivors who were in the hotel in 1994, stating that Rusesabagina was not helping the Tutsi out of kindness but for his own financial gain as Mwenenganucye, who was the receptionist at the he hotel “accused Rusesabagina of kicking out refugees who failed to pay their bills.” Another account by survivor Kayihura recalls that Rusesabagina did not care or want the refugees in his hotel as "Rusesabagina had made a written request with the UN peacekeepers to remove the Tutsi refugees from the hotel" and "Under Rusesabagina, only those who had money could go to the hotel restaurant and get food.” These reports confirm Dallaire's opinion that the film is historically inaccurate, they show the inaccuracy of Hotel Rwanda's portrayal of Paul Rusesabagina according to which is not heroic and just wanted money from the Tutsis for help in a crisis This means that the audience does not get an accurate account of the genocide or what happened in the hotel from the film Despite its criticisms, Hotel Rwanda is historically accurate in some way since, even though the numbers were exaggerated, there were 1200 people taking refuge in the hotel, there were many people whose lives were saved by taking refuge in the hotel from the militia. Although the film does not capture the same brutality of the genocide itself, for example, the use of machetes to kill people, it gives the viewer a clear idea of ​​the massacre that took place when Rusesabagina fell from the van onto the asphalt. corpses piled up in the fog that matches images taken at the time of the genocide to represent the 800,000 people who died. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay To conclude, the film does not fully show the dark tone of the genocide as it only shows the dead bodies instead of how the innocent people were brutally killed. Furthermore, the film does not show what the survivors felt and their thoughts about the genocide as the film only focuses on Rusesabagina's view of the events. The film is also widely criticized for its historical inaccuracy, which is why Dallaire considers it "Hollywood trash" and why it does not correctly depict the genocide. Bibliography George Terry, "Hotel Rwanda", MGM Home, (2014)