Hotel Rwanda made a significant impact on me. I had not seen this movie before we saw it for class, but I am so happy that I did. The real life character of Paul made me think about true ethics and morality in life. Every aspect of this man’s life (or at least as it was portrayed in the film) was unselfish and giving. He was willing to risk his life for not only his family, but his people as well. He was unaffected by the prejudices in a society torn apart by war and stereotypes. This film portrayed a beautiful preservation of human life as well as a tragic demise of innocent people.
What intrigues me is that I was unaware of how tragic this situation in Rwanda was before I saw this movie. Being an American citizen, I like to feel that my country portrays the economic and political affairs of other countries accurately. However, I now see that there are many horrible things that we, in a wealthy society, close our eyes to and chose not to hear about. We surround our lives with media and information about “famous Hollywood celebrities” when we should be concentrating on the real heroes/celebrities (i.e. Paul). Do you think that it is better to remain ignorant if it shields us from such pain? Or, do we need to show a more empathetic side and start to feel the pain of our fellow humans? It is nice to just think about glamour and beauty, but world affairs should not be ignored just because they are ugly. In order to change anything, we need to face it first.
1 comment:
When you said that our society closes their eyes to the horrible things around the world, it reminded me a lot about “Blindness” because when things get bad people usually don’t want a part of it. In “Blindness” the doctor’s wife said that “we are blind because we don’t want to see.” People just try to ignore situations by covering their eyes and putting up a shield. This shows that people become blind to the events around them, not because they are uninformed, but because they choose not to see it. Instead of facing the facts and trying to help, it is easier for people to close their eyes, ignore the situation, and pretend that someone else will go help. But we know ignorance is not the best answer.
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