Shocking but great

I wasn't sure what to expect when walking in to see "Hotel Rwanda." I expected some gore, some guilt.....but I had no idea. The film was very powerful. I suppose with a subject matter such as the Rwandan genocide, you'd have to to try NOT to have it be powerful. I was happy that the film touched on issues such as the West abandoning the people in the country, the seemingly nominal difference between the opposing Rwandan classes and the extent to which the killing was carried. After the movie, I wondered if perhaps writer/director Terry George had gone over the top - tried to hit Western audiences over the head with a crisis that most chose to ignore. I don't think he did. From what I have read, he actually spared the audience from even more disturbing stories that he could have included.

Terry George's writing skills really shone through in this one. He would take the characters from horrific moments of terror to laughter within moments - those moments when perhaps all you can do to survive is find a way to laugh - to feel alive. Nick Nolte played a good ol' Notle role as the UN's Col. Oliver, and he did it better than any role I've seen him in a while. Don Cheadle became his character in more ways than one and truly brought a human face to what had merely been a news story.