Essay: Hotel Rwanda (2004) Q & As

1. What kind of person does Paul initially appear to be to viewers?
Paul looks like a friendly person. Everyone knows him and he is very polite to everyone. He has respect for his employees and seems to be an overall good person.
2. What event seems to precipitate the genocide? Is the political, historical context handled by the film adequately? (Was enough information given to explain why the genocide occurred?) Explain.
When Paul was in the car, the radio station talks about tension arising. You then see Paul go home and his neighbor was accused of being a spy and was beaten. Then what really explained the genocide was when the specialist was talking to the reporter about the history of the Hutus and the Tutsis. Later that night, Paul finds out that the president was killed and that’s when the genocide really started.
Rwanda was taken over by the German and they gave the Hutus favoritism. The Hutus started to think the Tutsis were lesser people. Now they are killing off Tutsis again to take over. I think that the film explained the reason for the hate too broadly and didn’t explain in detail why now they are fighting against each other.
3. Why does the UN Colonel refuse to take action or to take the hotel’s refugees?
The UN Colonel refused to take action because he was ordered not to intervene. He also refused to take refugees due to being overwhelmed with the amount of refugees in his camp and he states he is constantly under attacked.
4. What are Paul’s initial expectations of a Western response to Rwanda’s crisis?
Paul believes that the Western will intervene and help with the Rwanda crisis. The reported shot a video of the Hutus rebels killing innocent people. Paul was glad that this would be shown to the world because it will get more people to help. The reporter warned him not to get his hopes up.
5. Why does the UN withdraw its forces and the non-Rwandan inhabitants?
The UN was only there to keep to peace. They were not allowed to shoot at the Hutus. Now that there is a massacre, they are leaving. They are not allowed to interfere.
6. Explain the UN Colonel’s disturbing comments on the UN’s decision not intervene. What do you think he means when he tells Paul, “you’re not even a ni**er”?
The UN Colonel is furious that they brought soldiers not to intervene, but to take back all the other soldiers and non-Rwandans. He is upset that they are abandoning them in a time of crisis. He tells Paul that comment because being African is worse than being a “ni**er”. When I mean worse, I mean that people care less if you are an African because these wars tend to happen a lot in Africa.
7. Who is George Rutaganda? How does he respond to Paul’s question about the Hutus’ plans?
George Rutaganda is Paul’s supplier. He is the one where Paul gets all his food and alcohol supplies for the hotel. Paul asks George if he really thought they could kill all the Tutsis. George responds to him by saying, “Why not? We are halfway there already.”
8. Describe your reaction to the scene immediately after Paul’s meeting with Rutaganda (in car w/ Gregoire). Why do you think the filmmakers decided to film the genocide this way?
It was upsetting to see all the dead people lying on the road. I think the filmmakers portrayed the genocide this way to show you how many people were already killed and how they were brutally killed wherever they were.
9. Recall the convoy of Rwandans who have obtained visas to leave. What are your thoughts on the conflict between Tatiana & Paul after he decides to stay.
Obviously the Rwandans that obtained the visas were glad to be able to leave. I think that Paul was trying to be a hero by staying with his guests. He caused distressed to his wife by staying behind and also caused stressed to himself because he didn’t know if his wife and kids would of made it through the ambush.
10. How is Paul able to convince General Bizimungu into helping him at the end? What does this say about how the outcome of the war might have ended differently?
Paul convinces the General to help him by saying that the General is on a wanted list in America. He tells him that once the American intervene, then they will arrest him for war crimes. The general gets angry with Paul and threatens to kill him. Paul says he would vouch for him if he helps the hotel.
11. To what degree do we witness the Rwandan genocide in the film?
You don’t see a lot of murder scenes in this film. You see very little brutality, and I figure this genocide was very brutal. You do see a lot of dead bodies and a lot of broken families. You see a lot of hate between the two groups of people.
12. How, in general, are Rwandans represented by the film? Rwanda itself? Compare these representations with how WWII-era Germans were portrayed in the documentaries, readings, etc. you have seen.
The film shows the Hutus as savages. The film portrays Rwanda as an unprotected country. Everyone knew what was going on, but no one cared enough to help. In WWII, the Nazi’s did the same thing by targeting a group of people and killing them off. The difference is, everyone knew what was going on and tried to help. Everyone currently knows about WWII and the Holocaust, but for some reason not many people know about what went on in Rwanda. I didn’t know myself.
13. How does the film represent the conflict between Hutus and Tutsis?
The Hutus were asking everyone for their passports and if it said Tutsis, they were cockroaches and were killed off. You see the Hutus with machetes in the street and dead bodies everywhere. Children were the first targets to stop the next generation of Tutsis. Tutsis women were considered prostitutes and witches and were locked away. You see pure hatred coming from the Hutus side.
14. Rwanda was widely considered the most “Christian country” in Africa. Close to 90% of Rwanda claimed to be Christians. How do you account for the genocide which occurred in light of this information?
Most people like to consider themselves Christians. Just because they call themselves Christians, doesn’t mean they practice the belief. They are Christians when it benefits them. Here we have this hatred between the two groups of people. They didn’t follow the Christian bible rule to love your brother. The Hutus still believed they were better than then Tutsis from something that happened years ago and they wanted them dead.
15. Based on the end of the film, what might you speculate about Rwanda’s future (from the perspective of 1994)?
From the perspective of 1994, I would of thought that Rwanda would of gone to ruins. There was constant war that you would have figured that the country would of become inhabitable. It was good to read at the end of the film that the war ended once the Tutsis rebel drove the Hutus rebel over the Congo border.
How is it possible that most people did not know what was happening in Rwanda? The same reason(s) many have not heard of Darfur. What can we do today to be made more aware of potentially tragic situations around the world?
Now with social media, we are made more aware of problems going around the world than ever before. We still have radio stations, television programs, and even still newspaper that talk about the news, but the biggest factor is social media. The other three methods are usually controlled but the government and allow the public to know as much as they want them to know. We have social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter where people are constantly posting about tragic situations around the world. We need to stop scrolling and ignoring these post. We need to start actually reading them and do some research about what’s going on. There are plenty of sites dedicated to keep people informed about what is happening around the world. I personally don’t watch the news, but I know the gist of what is going on around the world because of social media. People who are actually going through these tragedy tend to post pictures and video to show the world that they need help. We need to be more aware and care because if we don’t care, then we won’t bother to learn.