Saturday, March 10, 2007
Rwanda After thoughts
Each day events like what happened in South Africa occur. It is frustrating to know that humans could even think to be so cruel to other humans just because someone tells them that there is a separation, in reality, does not truly exist. What took place in Hotel Rwanda is just a grain of sand compared to all of the horrible things that have taken place and are still taking place today around the world. So why are we not doing anything to prevent further destruction. Maybe we are all shrouded in a veil of ignorance or maybe we have unconsciously chosen to ignore what we are told. In the movie "Hotel Rwanda" the protagonist is speaking to one of the reporters after the reporter has filmed a brutal massacre outside of the village. The protagonist says that he knows help will come after the people of the world see what is actually happening there. The reporter replies that he does not agree, people will simply see what is happening and say "oh how terrible" before going back to eating their dinner or playing their games. Those who are surrounded by their everyday security and do not know the pain of having to fear for their lives everyday could not even begin to imagine the horrors that those living in this situation must go through. So in a way, they can not fathom this life and therefore dismiss it as less than what it is. I wish I could better express how I feel about this subject. The scene that impacted me the most was when they were riding down the foggy road on their way back to the hotel and the protagonist thought they had driven off of the road. After they pulled over, and he got out of the car, he realized that they were actually driving over the hundreds of bodies that had been placed there on the road. This scene was both horrifying and comprehensive for me. This scene gave me a visual of only a fraction of those who had been killed.
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2 comments:
Hotel Rwanda is one of the most powerful, inspiring, and thought provoking movies I have ever seen. To me, perhaps the most significant exchange in the entire movie occurs after Paul thanks Jack for filming footage of a massacre because the world will now see it. Paul says, "How can they not intervene when they witness such atrocities?" To which Jack replies, "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." That is basically the Rwandan genocide in a nutshell. Western governments didn't want to classify the conflict as a genocide because then they would be obligated to intervene. In Rwanda, there was just nothing for Western governments to gain. In the movie, Paul recognized this and that is why he urged everyone in the hotel to call everyone they knew overseas and make them feel ashamed for not intervening. As many people have already pointed out, history is repeating itself in Darfur. This makes Hotel Rwanda even more important. We should all learn from past mistakes and make sure that we don’t allow them to happen again. The movie got me thinking about all the things I could do to help the situation in Darfur. I may not be an international diplomat but there are still a lot of avenues open to me. There are lots of charities devoted to stopping the genocide in Darfur. And this being a democracy, one could always write a letter to their congressman urging them to take action. If they got enough letters from their constituents I bet something would finally get done. Especially if they're up for re-election in '08. :)
I to find it frustrating to know people are cruel to one another for no apparent reason. I never knew anything about the mass destruction of Rwanda until I saw the movie Hotel Rwanda. I had no idea these people were out murdering others without thinking anything of it. The clip of them driving over the bodies disgusted me as well. The fact the whole road could be covered with dead bodies is disgusting. I also found it very disturbing when the young children were firing guns. I could not even imagnine my 8 or 12 year old cousins holding a gun and murdering someone. The kids were trained so well they didn't have to think about what they wer doing. As others have said, even when they witness what is really going on, nobody wants to help or believe it. They feel sorry for the people of that area but do nothing because it will never be them. Nowadays, we never know when someone is going to want to wipe our our entire race so maybe we should do a little more to help prevent that.
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