Astounding Hotel Rwanda.
We received some free preview tickets to see Hotel Rwanda last week. So myself and Beci trundled off, anticipation high in our hearts and a very nice ‘power smoothie’ high in my stomach (Blueberry, Raspberry, Yoghurt, Protein Powder, Milk… something else).
I had heard about this movie a month or so before when it was shown at various film festivals around the world and had been looking forward to it ever since.
The movie was brilliant, no real gore and violence just "implied horror" and thousands of Rwandans are slaughtered in the name of revenge. Unlike hack and slash Hollywood blockbusters this is surprisingly more horrific.
It is amazing what the human race is possible of, almost a million people murdered in a one hundred day period. But the movies real strength is seemingly avoiding the blame game and concentrating on what CAN be done to heal and move forward away from the past. You leave the movie inspired to part of the healing process, not a contributor to the death and hate.
Rather than thinking ‘what can I do?’, you leave thinking maybe I CAN do something… after all this man saves over one thousand refugees from both sides of the conflict, while a small drop in the masses that never saw another day, it made a difference to those thousand!
I find myself agreeing with a review from Brian D. Mclaren at Sojourners…
"And then I realize that’s why Hotel Rwanda seemed to me an even more Christian film (forgive me if this sounds crazy to you - but try to understand) than The Passion of the Christ. It evoked in me a wave of compassion for my neighbors around the world, whatever their color or tribe, whatever their religion or politics. And I hear our Lord saying, "As you have done it to the least of these…you have done it to me."
Rather than pointing a finger at the ‘baddies’ in this picture, it just seems to inspire compassion…
Compassion: Not just for our friends and neighbours, but like Jesus says…
"For our enemies".
