光影筆記本67/Hotel Rwanda

Before watching this film I was ignorant of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and never knew Rwanda had a different name 'Pays des Mille Collines'.

My cultural background taught me that, in the country where I'm from, so far, people love peace, and violence is wrong and there's no excuse. And we don't want wars.

The religious belief/philosophical thought from my family has helped me learn to respect different opinions, races, religions, nationalities... And it's wrong to name an enemy by its race.

Especially so, it was hard for me to tolerate what I saw in this film, where people kill people, one race hate the other, guns everywhere, children have no hope, one is blessed to be dead. It saddened me, like that film 'The Constant Gardener'...

I kept thinking were it me which way would i have chosen... what would I have done if it were me who was facing death... This is almost like Scarlet in 'Gone with the Wind'. oh, and family values, love for one's land...

The hero in the film, Paul, is described by a critic as an 'ordinary person forced to take extraordinary actions'. This made me rethink about being extraordinary and being brave.

Perhaps fear is usual, courage only exists when it's necessary/urgent(?) to generate some?

And how could the staff in Paul's hotel continue to follow Paul's orders, instead of running away. I wonder what sustains one's loyalty or is it just owing to lack of alternative options.

Where does trust come from. People gather together to fight against those with machetes, background noise: gunshots.


Philip French wrote on the Guardian that the film ends on a note of hope and freedom. I rather thought more tragedy could as well follow... What can stop ongoing hatred? And the forever downside of one's world after the awakening concerning identity... ah...