Who can you turn to for help?

The film Hotel Rwanda tells the story of Paul, a hotel manager, and his efforts to save hundreds of people from the Rwandan genocide. Paul spent much of his life building relationships and connections with influential Europeans and dignitaries through his hotel. When the untimely murder of the president leads to the mass genocide of Rwandan people, Paul shelters them and uses all his resources to help not only his family escape, but also all the refugees who stayed in his hotel. This movie exposes a lot of the realistic elements of when such a situation, which is unfortunately not so uncommon, that are often hidden or ignored by the outside world.

It was especially interesting to me that it was the Belgians who created the separation in the Rwandan population when they tried to colonize Rwanda after “winning” the territory from the Germans at the end of World War One. To control the Rwandans, the Belgians made two separate classes, the Hutus and the Tutsis. The determination of who belonged to each group was based off the width of their nose, because those with more narrow noses looked more European. Therefore while the Belgians occupied Rwanda, it was the Tutsis that were in power. Once the Belgians left Rwanda, the Hutus overthrew the Tutsi government because of the injustices they had incurred while in power. There have been numerous overthrows of each government, but when Hotel Rwanda starts, it is the Hutus who are in power. I think it is incredible that so much killing was done over a distinction that was forced on them many years ago by a foreign power.

Like in Maus I and II, family remains the most important when the genocide began. However, Paul seems to be an exception in that he helped his neighbors, and complete strangers as well, where in Maus, Vladek had to bribe even his cousins to help them. However, bribes remain an important tool in both situations, as well as connections.

I thought the role of the UN in the Rwandan situation was quite fascinating. Those who are actually there in the situation full heartedly believe in trying to save the refugees and stop the genocide, while those who are making decisions and who are well removed from the situation choose to remain only mildly involved. The UN brought in an intervention force, but only to help those who were not Rwandans. The UN colonel explained it to Paul in this way: “You're black. You're not even a nigger. You're an African.” I also thought the comment to the reporters that the UN is peacekeepers not peacemakers to be quite memorable. The outside world always seems to be slow to take action when they are not involved. And it’s not only those in power who have this attitude. A reporter described the standard reaction to footage of such horrific killing: “I think if people see this footage, they'll say Oh, my God, that's horrible. And then they'll go on eating their dinners.”

How can we sit back and ignore that this is happening around the world even today? Those who knew about the Holocaust, but did nothing about it were the ones saying ‘thank god it’s not happening to me.’ And as Maus portrays, eventually it will be you. If we continue to stand by and say nothing, then eventually we will face the same fate.

I think that this might provide some justification to the United States going to war with other countries because of the treatment of the citizens. People will argue ‘its not our job to be the world police. We need to just mind our own business and worry about ourselves.’ Well, if no one else is doing anything, if the UN is going to turn a blind eye even when its own people are crying out about the injustices, then who can be expected to do something?