TBWITWW and I watched Hotel Rwanda last night. It's been sitting here from Netflix for quite some time, but we just haven't been in the mood for anything quite that heavy. However, it was definately worth the wait. The story is, in some ways, similar to Schindler's List, but told with less of a "movie" feel. Where Schindler's List made it's point through sheer emotional barrage, Hotel Rwanda felt as if it simply told a story honestly, and quietly.
The story centers around Paul Rusesabagina, a manager at a 4 star hotel, who quietly saves over 1000 people in the middle of a genocidal war. He doesn't set out to save these people or to be a hero, he merely sets out to protect his family, but his concious allows him to include all of the people who have taken refuge in the hotel. While the west sent in troops to pull out the foriegn nationals, but leave those being massacared behind, the UN troops are spread thin (300 for the whole country) and under orders not to fire their weapons.
Watching this movie reminds me that although there are people that are willing to be heroes, sometimes without trying, most of us are simply bystanders in life. I'm not without guilt in this myself. Hotel Rwanda shows that guilt in us, and if that means we are more able to voice our outrage when this happens agian, the movie has done a good thing.
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