Hotel Rwanda (2004)

That’s one movie that I wish I hadn’t seen.

2004 (when the movie was released) marked the 10th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda. The majority Hutu people killed about a million minority Tutsis to free themselves of the spectre of tyranny. Within 100 days they carried out one of the most vicious and devastating attacks on fellow humans that a nation ever attempted.

Why do I wish I hadn’t seen this movie? Because I was sitting at the sidelines, unable to help, unable to do anything, praying that someone would finally send troops to help in Rwanda, to help stopping a senseless slaughter whose main weapon ended up being the machete.

So, the movie was strong, compelling, maybe a little too sensationalistic. Still, it portrayed a human catastrophe without precedent. Not even the Nazis were as swift at starting and ending genocide.

I wish the movie the very best, but it still feels like an attempt to rally the rest of mankind into helping a dying people. Good wishes, but I only get to the anger within myself, thinking the same is happening in Darfur right now.