He faces life in prison. The story of this moderate Hutu with a quiet appearance, with his moustache and well-dressed suit, inspired the film "Hotel Rwanda", released in , which recounts his rescue of more than 1, people during the genocide that left , dead, mostly Tutsis.
Portrayed on screen by Don Cheadle as a soft-spoken altruist, Mr. Rusesabagina is also one of Rwandan President Paul Kagame's fiercest critics. Now 67, he reappeared in Rwanda in August , after nearly 25 years in exile, in a pink prison uniform, handcuffed, after what he denounced as an "abduction.
The Rwandan justice system accuses him of being the mastermind of attacks carried out by the National Liberation Front FLN , a rebel group considered terrorist by Kigali. He and his family deny this. His relatives say he has always been the courageous, calm and determined man portrayed in the Hollywood blockbuster and denounce a "political" trial aimed at silencing an opponent.
Now it is his rights that are being violated," said his niece and adopted daughter, Carine Kanimba, in October Born in into a farming family in central Rwanda, Paul Rusesabagina briefly studied theology and then hotel management in Kenya and Switzerland. Returning to Rwanda in , he was hired as deputy general manager of the most prestigious hotel in the capital, Kigali, the Hotel des Mille Collines.
Paul has trained powerful people in Kigali to consider the Hotel Des Milles Collines an oasis of sophistication and decorum, and now he pretends that is still the case. It isn't, but it works as a strategy because it cues a different kind of behavior; a man who has yesterday directed a mass murder might today want to show that he knows how to behave appropriately in the hotel lobby.
Nolte's performance is also in a precise key. He came to Rwanda as a peacekeeper, and now there is no peace to keep. The nations are united in their indifference toward Rwanda.
In real life, Nolte's bad-boy headlines distract from his acting gifts; here his character is steady, wise, cynical and a master of the possible. He makes a considered choice in ignoring his orders and doing what he can do, right now, right here, to save lives.
How the 1, people come to be "guests" in the hotel is a chance of war. Some turn left, some right, some live, some die. Paul is concerned above all with his own family. As a Hutu, he is safe, but his wife is Tutsi, his children are threatened, and in any event, he is far beyond thinking in tribal terms.
He has spent years storing up goodwill and now he calls in favors. He moves the bribery up another level. He hides people in his hotel. He lies. He knows how to use a little blackmail: Sooner or later, he tells a powerful general, the world will take a reckoning of what happened in Kigali, and if Paul is not alive to testify for him, who else will be believed?
This all succeeds as riveting drama. Rusesabagina rises to the challenge. The film works not because the screen is filled with meaningless special effects, formless action and vast digital armies, but because Cheadle, Nolte and the filmmakers are interested in how two men choose to function in an impossible situation.
Because we sympathize with these men, we are moved by the film. Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from until his death in In , he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. Rated PG violence, disturbing images and brief strong language. Sophie Okonedo as Tatiana. Don Cheadle as Paul Rusesabagina. Joaquin Phoenix as Jack. Nick Nolte as Col. Reviews A hotel 'diplomat' offers sanctuary from genocide. Sign In. Play clip Biography Drama History. Director Terry George.
Keir Pearson Terry George. Top credits Director Terry George. See more at IMDbPro. Top rated movie Clip Video Which Roles Did Samuel L. Jackson Turn Down? Photos Top cast Edit.
Xolani Mali Policeman as Policeman. Desmond Dube Dube as Dube. Tony Kgoroge Gregoire as Gregoire. Rosie Motene Receptionist as Receptionist. Lebo Mashile Odette as Odette. Leleti Khumalo Fedens as Fedens. Kgomotso Seitshohlo Anais as Anais. Lerato Mokgotho Carine as Carine. Terry George. More like this. Watch options. Storyline Edit.
In Rwanda, the classification of the native population into Hutus and Tutsis, arbitrarily done by the colonial Belgians, is now ingrained within Rwandan mentality despite the Rwandan independence. Despite the Belgians having placed the Tutsis in a higher position during the Belgian rule, they have placed the majority Hutus in power after independence. The Milles Collines, owned by Sabena the national airline of Belgium , is a four-star hotel catering primarily to wealthy white westerners.
Paul, who knows how to work the system to run the hotel effectively for its guests and for Sabena, is proud that most of the Caucasians who he meets in this professional capacity treat him with respect. After a specific incident, the relative calm between the Tutsi guerrillas and government-backed Hutu militia takes a turn.
Paul's thought that the native population as a whole who are not directly involved in the conflict will be protected as the UN peacekeeping forces and thus the world is watching doesn't happen as the western world largely evacuates from Rwanda and abandons the natives.
Such begins what will become a genocide of the Tutsi population.
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