Hotel Rwanda (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-Terry George (Director), Paul Rusesabagina, Wyclef Jean Featurette-Making Of-A Message For Peace: Making Hotel Rwanda Audio Commentary-Don Cheadle (Actor) - Selected Scenes Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	116:46
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (75:07)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Terry George
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Xolani Mali Don Cheadle Desmond Dube Hakeem Kae-Kazim Tony Kgoroge Rosie Motene Neil McCarthy Mabutho 'Kid' Sithole Nick Nolte Fana Mokoena Jeremiah Ndlovu Sophie Okonedo Lebo Mashile
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$39.95	Music	Jerry 'Wonder' Duplessis Rupert Gregson-Williams Andrea Guerra

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (320Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (320Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (320Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" Edmund Burke

    Hotel Rwanda is a wrenching political thriller that tells the inspirational true story of Paul Rusesabagina, a mild mannered but stubbornly decent man who risks everything and goes to extraordinary lengths to save as many people as possible during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

    Belgium left Rwanda, its former colony, ethnically divided between the ruling Hutu and the minority Tutsis people. The resulting hatred and distrust ran deep among some. In 1994, a Hutu radio station, spewing out propaganda that blamed the Tutsis for everything that was wrong with their country, helped ancient feuds erupt into a 100-day bloodbath that saw the slaughter of almost a million Tutsis. Thousands of others were tortured, raped, or brutalised.

    During this vile and blood-soaked orgy of madness, military trucks packed with cheering, machete-waving soldiers of the Interahamwe, the Hutu militia, swarmed the streets of Rwanda's capital, Kigali, searching out Tutsis men, women, and children. Indeed, toward the end of the genocide, the Tutsis children were specifically targeted, in a gross and deliberate move of ethnic cleansing, in an attempt to wipe out the next generation of Tutsis people.

    However, Writer/Director Terry George manages to capture, or perhaps more suggest, the horror without making the film gory or gratuitous. Even when the streets are carpeted with bodies, we are spared the scenes of splattering blood, decapitations, or mutilations.

    So how can this mass chaos and insanity be dramatised? Through the eyes of one man.

    Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle) is the softly spoken, gentle, and thoroughly charming wheeler-dealer manager of the Hotel Des Mille Collines, a Belgian-owned luxury hotel in Kigali. Paul is a Hutu with a Tutsis wife, Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo), and thus his children are half-Hutu/half-Tutsis. Paul and his family, like most, do not see Hutu or Tutsis - they only see people - friends, neighbours, and co-workers.

    Cheadle's riveting and understated performance allows us to experience the unbelievable horror, largely through his large, sensitive and intelligent eyes. As an audience, we don't watch him, we watch through him.

    With a sense of disbelief, Paul quickly realises the gravity of the chaotic situation. He uses his notable negotiating skills to keep the Hutu hoards from killing his family and close friends. But, this is only the beginning.

    When the Western media arrive and start to film the carnage - videos of dismembered bodies strewn through the streets - Paul is relieved, as surely now the world will do something to stop the tide of evil that has swept over his country.

    However, a cynical reporter (Joaquin Phoenix) bluntly explains to Paul "If people see this footage they'll say, 'Oh my God, that's terrible,' and they'll go on eating their dinners." Of course he was right.

    Colonel Oliver (Nick Nolte), the tough-as-nails United Nations commander is on site, but he is completely helpless, as his orders are for his lightly armed UN troops to be "peacekeepers, not peacemakers". Frustrated by the orders which prevent his small peacekeeping force from intervening, Oliver blurts out that if it were white people being massacred, the Western World's response would be very different.

    Thus, a horrible realisation dawns on Paul - no one is coming to help them. No one. As Rwanda has no oil, nor anything else of interest to the Western World, its people have been abandoned to their bloody slaughter.

    Paul acts quickly, and he turns the hotel into a makeshift refugee camp. He fills the rooms with as many people as he can, and barters for their food and safety daily.

    Indeed, Paul risks his life every day, and he and his family narrowly escape death several times. But through a combination of flattery, bribes, threats, and lies, Paul manages to maintain the sanctity of the hotel as an oasis of decency.

    Against all odds, Paul Rusesabagina is directly responsible for saving the lives of more than 1,200 refugees, both Tutsis and Hutu, by feeding and sheltering them in his hotel, and somehow managing to protect them from harm in a vortex of violence and death.

Video

    Overall the transfer is excellent.

    The widescreen transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 Enhanced.

    The sharpness is very good, as can be seen in the detail of the patterned shirts at 83:20. The black level and shadow detail are also very good. For example, consider the detail in the dark exterior night shot at 15:09.

    The colour is excellent throughout, with a well-saturated colour palette. The skin tones are accurate.

    There are no problems with MPEG or film artefacts. Film-to-video appear in the form of some mild aliasing, such as the slight shimmer occasionally appearing on car grilles or striped shirts.

   English for the Hearing Impaired are provided, and they are accurate to the spoken word.

    The film is divided into 30 chapters on this single-sided dual-layered disc. The layer change occurs between scenes at 75:07.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Despite the DVD's cover promising the option of dts 5.1 audio, the only audio options available on the DVD are English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), English Dolby Digital 2.0 (320Kb/s), English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (320Kb/s), and English Dolby Digital Audio Commentary 2 2.0 (320Kb/s).

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are excellent on the default English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track.

    The musical score is credited to Jerry 'Wonder' Duplessis, Rupert Gregson-Williams and Andrea Guerra, and there is a good blend of a traditional, orchestral score, which beautifully underlines the film's emotion, with local African music, which effectively helps set the scene.

    I was very pleasantly surprised by the film's surround presence and activity. The film's sound design is excellent, and the resulting surround sound mix is both impressive and immersive. While there are not a great deal of directional effects, or panning between speakers, the rear speakers are used effectively throughout to provide ambience. This  maintains a nice soundfield while keeping the viewer firmly focussed on the screen. For example, the traffic at 33:44, the distant gun fire at 69:30, and the rain at 50:42.

    The subwoofer is also utilised very effectively throughout, such as the ominous rumble at 25:09, and the drums and explosions at 99:07.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    The extras are more about quality than quantity. The inclusion of the real Paul Rusesabagina assisting with the audio commentary is a real coup.

Menu

    An animated menu, with audio.

Audio Commentary 1 (Full Length)

    Presented in stereo audio, this is a screen-specific Audio Commentary with Director Terry George, Paul Rusesabagina, and songwriter Wyclef Jean. The commentary focuses more on the story than the technical aspects of the film, and a lot of additional information and some historical background is provided. Rusesabagina also provides a horrifying first-hand-account of the atrocities and terror which he and his family endured.

Featurette-Making Of-A Message For Peace: Making Hotel Rwanda (27:55)

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo audio, this featurette includes some behind-the-scenes footage, some scenes from the film and some interview snippets with the filmmakers and Paul Rusesabagina. There is also some archival news footage.

Audio Commentary 2 (21:47)

    Presented in stereo audio, this is a screen-specific Audio Commentary by Actor Don Cheadle for selected scenes from the film.

Theatrical Trailer (2:07)

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.

    Hotel Rwanda was released on DVD in Region 1 in April 2005.

    The Region 4 DVD misses out on:

• "Return To Rwanda" featurette
• French and Spanish subtitles

    The Region 1 DVD misses out on:

• English Dolby Digital 2.0 audio
• Theatrical Trailer

    When you consider that we get a PAL transfer, I would call it pretty even, but I'd favour the R1 for the extra featurette.

    A gripping and terrifying film, Hotel Rwanda is a powerful statement about the greatness of one man who risked everything to help strangers. While one can't help drawing parallels with Schindler's List, Hotel Rwanda is a suspenseful and moving film that stands on its own merits.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is also excellent.

    The extras are genuine, and enhance the DVD's content.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall