Hotel Rwanda Reflection

Sevilla, Franco Martel
Tan, John Emmanuel M.
GED0113- Sec4
HOTEL RWANDA
The film Hotel Rwanda was based on the true story of a Rwandan hotel manager, Paul
Rusesabagina, who dares to risk everything for his family and his relatives' lives throughout life-threatening
situations in Rwanda. Also, the film was about the country experiencing a genocide where mostly 800,000
Rwandans were killed by the Hutus started on April 7 and ended on July 15, 1994 (BBC News, 2011).
Ultimately, this killing started due to the fact that the population is split by tribe namely the Hutus and
Tutsis wherein we will talk about how this 2 tribe are divided.
Basically, to answer the question of how they were divided? It is because when the Belgians
were in Rwanda, they gave the Tutsi favorable treatment because they had superior physical features (i.e.,
softer facial features and lighter skin). The Hutus feel bitter being out of favor and retaliate by violent
rhetoric about the Tutsi' cockroaches' keeping them down, revolted against them through the use of radios.
In other words, the Belgians from Western Europe saw the Tutsis as a prosperous ruling class and the Hutus
as inferior. To make long story short, It leads in long ethnic tensions and eventually resulting a coldhearted
100 day bloodbath. Consequently, it affects many Rwandans people in the neighborhood, killing each other
due to the different groups; however, during the killings, there is a man, namely Paul Rusesabagina, who
miraculously saves many people during that period.
We could already say that Paul is a savior amongst the Rwandan People he shelters 1,200
people in Hôtel des Mille Collines in Kigali (Busari, 2010). He is indeed an oasis in the desert, whereas he
is a paradise, a haven for those that are trap in endless walking and have nowhere to go. He is the provider
of strength and hope that are lost in path. Despite the situation, Paul Rusesabagina provides ease and go
beyond as an oasis in the desert. Consequentially, the effort to save the people that he cater by asking for
help to the international organizations maximize their survival.
The international organizations present in the movie's role, the UN and Red Cross, and soldiers of
different international origins participated in the Civil War on Rwanda. Their roles consist of a 3rd party,
neutral party, and backdoor party that is mixed from their parties. There were some of the international
organizations that were bribed, threatened, and convinced to help from the civil war. While some of them
stayed neutral in the end, they, in a way, joined the battlefield instead. One of their duties is safeguarding
the populace, and when there are citizens who are in danger or affected by the war, then they seek to aid
them out in danger as a neutral party. However, we can say there are loopholes that the United Nations
shows based on the movie.
They were allowed to use their weapons for self-defense, which in a way they could abuse stated
that they fired only for self-defense and not because of violence or abuse. The UN has the power to save
the civilians during the conflict, and that itself is a loophole because they could save people who are taken
hostage may be or people in distress by the armed army of the Hutus. Their responsibility to save foreign
nationals or officials or people themselves is also a form of loophole since they may include civilians in
their way to save them. Knowingly, what happens in Rwanda and the foreign it is the inequity between
people as this gives rise to conflict theory.
According to conflict theory, people with wealth and power try to hold on to it by any means
necessary, usually by suppressing the poor and powerless. A basic description of conflict theory is that
individuals and groups within a society will work to maximize their benefits. Racism is one of the reasons
for conflict in most countries I would say, a simple shoulder tap from two races might end up in a brawl.
Usually, it is the minority that is targeted. In the movie, the most evident scenario is the Hutus and Tutsis
wherein the Hutus, who are a majority, is the winner of the movie while the Tutsis were the losers.
Besides, It may also be referenced by the UN and other major foreign countries in the movie where
they turn a blind eye to the killings. Some of them even try to benefit from the situation — selling guns or
weaponry towards the groups or maybe sheltering them for benefits later. The President in the movie was
a Hutu, and later on, was killed. The President's death was the cause of the civil war because the politicians
that were Hutus aimed for the minority, which is the Tutsis, in an attempt to keep their political power.
References
BBC News. (2011, May 17). Rwanda: How the genocide happened. Retrieved from BBC:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13431486
Busari, S. (2010, June 10). Hotel Rwanda hero: Rwanda is a volcano waiting to erupt. Retrieved from
CNN:
https://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/06/10/paul.rusesabagina.interview/index.html

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Sevilla, Franco Martel

Tan, John Emmanuel M.

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