Movie Honors Rwandan Hotelier 'Who Refused to Follow the Mob' ('94 Rwanda)

The Washington Post ^ | November 26, 2004 | Nora Boustany

[neverdem]

Blood flowed in the streets. Machine guns and machetes replaced courtesies and conversations among neighbors and colleagues from different ethnic groups.

As Rwanda fell into the grip of genocide 10 years ago, what distinguished Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager in Kigali, the capital, from many of his countrymen was an unspoken passion to serve others and a knack for decorum.

"I was not brave, but maybe I was someone who refused to follow the mob," Rusesabagina said in an interview in Washington before the screening last week of "Hotel Rwanda," a film based on heroic exploits by which Rusesabagina ultimately saved more than 1,200 people.

The movie, shown at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, follows events beginning in April 1994, as Rusesabagina was transformed from a suave host into a heralded savior and turned his once-elegant establishment, Hotel Mille Collines, into a haven for the helpless. Using his standing and connections, he staved off tragedy, cajoling bloodthirsty soldiers and outsmarting their leaders to save not only his family and friends but also strangers who came seeking refuge.

The slaughter began on April 6, 1994, when gunmen shot down the Rwandan president's plane, killing him and the president of neighboring Burundi. The incident quickly degenerated into genocide, a brutal door-to-door killing frenzy in which more than 800,000 people were massacred in just 100 days, as extremists from the majority Hutu population lashed out mercilessly against Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Amid the carnage, Rusesabagina remained the consummate professional, resorting to bartering luxury items hoarded in his hotel to ensure the safety of his patrons, keep food supplies coming in and thwart potential massacres. Rusesabagina rationed the water in the swimming pool, using trash cans to measure out portions for each room so that clients could cook, eat and wash.

[neverdem]

The incident quickly degenerated into genocide, a brutal door-to-door killing frenzy in which more than 800,000 people were massacred in just 100 days, as extremists from the majority Hutu population lashed out mercilessly against Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

With mostly machetes and other primitive weapons, that was a rate of genocide higher than the Nazis in the concentration camps. In the aftermath of Clinton's debacle in Somalia, his administration couldn't call it outright "genocide", only "acts of genocide" IIRC.

[SaltyJoe]

Yeah, and this is way the same administration knew best that "assault rifles" would prevent such violence. (sarcasm if one couldn't tell)

[Spyder]

This does look like it has real potential. We have friends who lived in Malawi when all this occurred. A couple of western dentists who had been working in Rwanda managed to escape up to Malawi, before their church brought them home. From what our friend told us they were really traumatized by what they'd seen.

[Pajamajan]

"A film based on heroic exploits by which Rusesabagina ultimately saved more than 1,200 people."
"Amid the carnage, Rusesabagina remained the consummate professional,resorting to bartering luxury items hoarded in his hotel to ensure the safety of his patrons, keep food supplies coming in, and thwart potential massacres"

Mr. Rusesabagina sounds like a like a modern day Schindler- i.e." Schindler's List". Interesting story. BUMP

[happygrl]

When the official resisted the offer, Rusesabagina warned him that one day he would be held accountable and that the rest of the world would judge him as the man who ordered the killing but could have stopped it.

Incredibly, this is all it takes sometimes.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."