March 2, 2005

• WEDNESDAY MOVIE

  Hotel Rwanda
  (Click on link for great movie site)

  Well, I said I would review Hotel Rwanda next, and I will, though a couple more films are now in the pipeline – Finding Neverland and The Motorcycle Diaries. It’s been a full 10+ years since the genocide in the tiny country of Rwanda and critics of the film say that it comes too late and a more apt story might have been Hotel Darfur. The Sudanese government today is imitating the Rwandan government of 1994 and the world is once again ignoring the tragedy unfolding. In fact, there is a line in Hotel Rwanda where a filmmaker present during the crisis says to the main character, Paul Rusesabagina (played by Don Cheadle), “If people see this footage, they’ll say ‘Oh my god, that’s terrible’ and go on eating their dinners.” Survivors of the Rwandan killings say the film does not show enough of the suffering of people outside the now famous hotel. Also not mentioned is that Clinton, President at the time, not only refused a request for UN troops that could have stopped the killings but reduced the force on hand from 2519 to 270 men, and Kofi Annan refused permission to seize stockpiles of government weapons that were used to kill the 800,000 victims. The Canadian commander in charge on the ground subsequently had a nervous breakdown and published a damning book called “Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity.” So today as we hear that the Sudanese Government, using Arab “Janjaweed” militias and its air force is deliberately starving and killing the black Sudanese of Darfur, driving over a million people from their homes, poisoning the water supplies, etc. we are once again sitting down to our dinners. It would not be fair to a beautiful film and magnificent acting by the cast, especially Cheadle who is an actor due premium parts like this for his competence, not to say that at least this much of the story is now on the screen and recognized at Academy Award level, bringing the attention of many more to the lessons of history than ever was accomplished by our miserable media.
  

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  Deep Thought: “One afternoon, when I was about ten, I decided to walk over to the “wrong side of the tracks.” At first I was a little scared. But then I noticed that the yards were nice, and so were the houses. In fact, most of the houses were better than those on our side of the tracks. A lot better.”
  Today I am grateful for: Hope
  Guess the Movie: “Maybe an elf or a leprechaun.” “It was nothing like that, penis breath!” Answer: E.T. Winner: officeconfidential.
  
  “If We Return, We Will Be Killed”
  Consolidation of Ethnic Cleansing in Darfur, Sudan
  (Rest of article here.)

  End of Day: 8:35 pm
  + = Worms are good.
  - = Think I’ll go eat some.

  • 2:24 pm
  • 12 Comments