Rwanda Genocide Compared with Hotel Rwanda

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The continent of Africa has been continually engaged in civil, tribal and cross national conflicts from colonial independence up until present day. What historians regard as the most ‘efficient genocide’ in history, occurred in a mere 100 days in the small central African country of Rwanda. The Hutus and the Tutsis, two ethnic groups within Rwanda, have been at continual unrest for the past half a century. During the 100 day massacre of 1994, a murder occurred every two seconds; resulting in 18% of the Tutsi population being killed. A decade after the war, in 2004, the film Hotel Rwanda was released. The film followed the story of a Hutu man; Paul Rusesabagina as he housed over 1200 Tutsi refugees in his hotel. The Hotel De Milles Collines, a five-star resort in the capital city Kigali, was a safe haven for several hundred Tutsis during the 100 days of slaughter in Rwanda.

The purpose of this paper will be to focus on the differences between the film Hotel Rwanda and the reality of the Rwandan genocide. I will seek to determine how accurately the film draws from history and how much of the film is fiction. For this essay I will first look at the history of the relations between the Hutus and the Tutsis dating back to the 1950s, so to grasp a background of the country. I will then account the events leading up to the 100 day massacre and look at how they were depicted in the film Hotel Rwanda. I will then examine how accurately Paul Rusesabagina and his efforts were displayed in the movie as well as the efforts from the U.N. This essay aims to have a comprehensive summary of the infamous tragedy as well as critically highlighting how Hollywood can alter history.

Rwanda is nestled between the...

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...ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=11&sid=f5d57578-23a1-4dd9-bc4c-295bd3cebc3a%40sessionmgr4&bdata=JmxvZ2lucGFnZT1Mb2dpbi5hc3Amc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZlJnNjb3BlPXNpdGU%3d#db=aph&AN=21301349

No Author. “The Real Hero of Rwanda.” U.S. Catholic (February 2006). 71-2. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=11&sid=78e94ed4-e51d-4773-aba0-3ce0c64bad34%40sessionmgr10

Strauss, Scott. The Order of Genocide: Race, Power, and War in Rwanda. (Cornell University Press Ithaca and London). 2006.

Rusesabagina, Paul. An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography. (An Address Given to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council) March 12, 2007. Retrieved from, http://www.lawac.org/speech/2006-07/RUSESABAGINA,%20Paul%202007.pdf

Taylor, Christopher. Sacrifice as Terror: The Rwandan Genocide of 1994. (Oxford New York) 1999.

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