Historical Background of Hotel Rwanda

" The movie Hotel Rwanda is based off of true historical events that occurred in 1994 in Rwanda. During this time a mass genocide was occurring and a civil war amongst two political parties. The movie focuses on a moderately wealthy family the husband is a Hutu the wife is a Tutsi, their three children are considered to be Hutu which is their father tribe. The father name is Paul Rusesabagina and is the manager of Hôtel des Mille Collines, the family were living a happy and stable life. However a civil war broke out where Tutsis were being murdered in larger numbers by the Hutu tribe which are the majority population in Rwanda, a Coupe was also held against the government were the Hutus overthrew the government and took power the fight started in early April. During this time a humanitarian crisis began in Rwanda, leading to a mass genocide.

During the movie Paul the manager of Hôtel des Mille Collines, is left with the decision of whether to protect the endangered Tutsis that are seeking refuge in the hotel or to send them out. He decided to help them to the best of his ability while hiding the tribal background of his wife from those around them so that she would not get killed. Paul is able to hide the identity of his wife for most of the time and help protect the Tutsis in his hotel by bribing others and soldiers but it only lasts for so long. Eventually soldiers and other Hutus no longer want bribes and Paul also no longer has any money to give and the hotel gets raided where hundreds ends up getting murdered.

During this time United Nations and other countries did not interfere with the fighting that was occuring, United States had sent in troops but for the purpose of taking out all American citizens. United Nations also sent in soldiers but they did not interfere with the fighting that was going on instead they were on standby trying not to mingle with the countries affair. The movie gives great insight on what people were experiencing during the country civil war, and genocide. It shows the impact it was having on people, the things they had to do just to survive. Young children were getting killed all for the sake of their tribal background, mothers, fathers, pregnant women, elderly people as long as they were Tutsis or in favor of Tutsis surviving they were killed and targeted. The movie did a great job of showing the struggles people went through, in one scene in the movie while escaping the hands of death Paul and his family were in a vehicle which was being driven in the dark, while driving the roads were extremely bumpy when Paul and another got out the vehicle to investigate they found the road covered with human remains after they were brutally murdered and left on the road. Paul and the others had no other choice but to keep on driving over the dead bodies.

The movie gave an insight of the civil war and genocide from a rwandan citizen view and experience. It also allowed viewers to partially feel the experience of all the horrible things that went on and showed the roles other countries played whether it was just watching the killings go on or taking a selective group of people out. During the movie Paul attempts to help his children and wife escape while he stays back to help protect the people seeking refugee in the hotel but the plans did not work and they ended up returning to the hotel. During this time people were facing hunger, lack of food and dying. The civil war and genocide lasted for only 3 months but managed to kill 800,000 people mainly the minority group Tutsis and the majority population Hutu.
In Garrett Hardin writing The Tragedy of the Commons he writes about the view and concept of population control and the pros and cons. This can relate to the movie Hotel Rwanda in one specific way which is the Hutus attempt to control and wipe out the Tutsis population in their country. Hardin said in his writing “A finite world can support only a finite population; therefore, population growth must eventually equal zero”, this can be used in the views of what Hutus were thinking when carrying out the brutal genocide on Tutsis. Thousands of Tutsis and those who wished to protect them were murdered all a part of a plan to control Rwanda population and the dominant ethnic groups.

Many people lost their lives, loved ones, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews and friends all for the sake of a certain form of population control. The movie also pointed out how thousands were finding ways to flee from Rwanda and neighboring countries, and other countries both near and far in Africa and out of Africa. People were trying to find ways to escape death, hunger and persecution from being from a specific ethnic background. Organizations like United Nations could have helped play a much bigger role in helping protect innocent people lives from being taken but instead did not intervene and help protect many people. Foreign countries could have also aided and protected innocent people from getting killed on such a high skill genocide that dramatically reduced already a minority group in Rwanda.

The cons outweigh the pros dramatically in the movie and the event that occured. Due to lack of international intervention thousands of people who were not soldiers nor political leaders deaths, young children were mercilessly killed so were adults and the elderly. The country government was completely upside down and in total chaos for three months. Also the level of immigrants that flowed into other international countries and in the continent of Africa from Rwanda increased due to them seeking refuge from the brutal genocide and civil war happening in their birth land.

Lastly some pros however was Paul being able to help protect a thousand plus people seeking refugee in Hôtel des Mille Collines. He managed to reduce these people and keep them alive throughout the brutal killings that occurred in the country. The minor intervention from United Nations did help a bit to save some people lives and place them in safer locations such as other countries. Hotel Rwanda is a representation of the struggles that occurred during the Rwandan genocide and civil war. The movie also helps to share the story o one brave man and his heroic action which managed to save a thousand plus people lives. "

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