Hotel Rwanda: Kaitlyn Dolan

This movie conveys the horrors of the genocide in Africa. I enjoyed this movie. I felt that it gave me a better understanding of what happened. People should do something about it- but many fail to do so. I think most people don't know what to do, or how to do it. On the other hand, the people helping aren't doing everything they can to stop the violence. It's like they don't want to help- they're scared to help. Both "sides", the Hutu's and the Tutsi's, were strong in their beliefs and actions. They did what they could to survive on their own. The people at the hotel banded together to make a home away from home. Another hardship they had to face was leaving their homes and loosing their family and friends. Some didn't know what happened to them; they might have died, ran away, who knows?

Hotel Rwanda

I learned how good life is to us. To tell you the truth I would be scared out of my mind. I don't think I would even try to live in that condition. I was really shocked when Paul got a lot of the kids and adults of out dying or starving to death. I think that everyone has a chance to do better and in this case help. I mean I know we didn't want them to come after us, but to me I believe that was real selfish of us. Then again we can not change the past. We can't do anything now. Unless we see something going on. We can put effort to help others that are getting beat/starve to death. But. They need to do the job of telling us. Because we don't know everything that is going on in the world.

Paul did an awesome job to save everyone, but if he didn't have that hotel I doubt him, his family and all those families would not have lived. He was a really smart man and new how to bribe to get what he wanted. I liked the moving and I doubt I will forget what happened.

Hotel Rwana

So, basically, this is what the natural cruel nature of some human beings look like. People like the murderers in this movie are quick to react on influence, rather than seek factual information instead. The fact that Hutu and Tutsi's difference and superiority was reliant on their appearance just proves how disgusting the human race can be.  I haven't watched the entire movie yet, but I've heard this genocide mentioned before it was brought up in this class. However, it was simply readings, not visual details. This movie reminds me of The Pianist and Schindler's List, mainly because it actually visually demonstrates the horrors and graphic details associated with the genocides. The difference between them, though, is that this man took action and risked his life just to keep some people safe. While Schindler's List had a main character who eventually decided to turn his bad ways to good, the man in this movie was goodhearted from the very beginning.
As the people in this blog have stated before, we will at a moment sit there and think, "Oh my God.. This is just.. horrible. :(" then, continue on with their lives and eventually the Rwandan genocide or any other tragedy will be a distant memory.  That's just how it is, unfortunately.

Hotel Rwanda

I think genocides shouldn't even happen in this world. We should have stepped in and stop the hutus and help the tutsusis. The movie was little nasty and rude. I think the hutus killed their president so they could kill the tutsusis. We should sent troops in there and killed the hutus that are trying to hurt everyone that wasn't a hutu. paul should have not helped the other people, but he did and now he is known as a hero.

Hotel Rwanda thoughts

I thought it was a alright movie. If I were them i would dressed up like a hutu and just sat in my house. lol it sounds pretty simple.. but it might not work. Paul was lucky that he had that hotel because if he wasn't in there he would of died. I would have done the same thing bribe them with items to stay alive for longer and try to get out alive

Hotel Rwanda Haley

I really liked this movie. The main character was very lucky that his boss left him in charge and let his family and friends stay there. He was a friendly guy that knew how to compromise. I think some of the things was just luck. Like that the army came just in time before they killed his family when they were trying to leave. It could have shown more on the outside of the hotel. But I still really liked this movie.

Hotel Rwanda Skyler

Hotel Rwanda is a small glimpse of the actual horror of a genocide. People everyday are suffering from someone bigger them telling them where to go and what to do and when they are going to Die... In anthropology we learned about a term called cognitive dissonance and it means people see something and they can't comprehend it because it is so catastrophic and we don't want to think about it. Even as I watched the part in the movie were they are driving over the bodies It didn't really effect me and the reason is i believe is because its so unbelievable. In the back of my mind Im thinking "Oh that can only happen in horror movies." But no, this was a real story. What can we do about it? Thats a tough one to answer. Cause its always going to be happening and we can't just send our troops off to every country in the world to try to keep peace. Nothing will help if we do that. I think the best we can do is help were we are asked. Send money, pray for them, and if a war is necessary, then don't sit around and say "Oh our troops will take care of it" Go out and pick up a gun and do it yourself.

Hotel Rwanda - John Langer

Before we started this unit I didn’t even pay attention to any genocide. I now feel extreamly horrible about myself. I can’t even imagin what these poor people are going through. It’s hard to believe that a person can be that crule, just on infulence. For example, in the film the radio station was the main cause of the mass murder. It almost killed all of those people that were trying to leave the hotel the first time. The most memorable thing in the movie was the body covered road. I would’ve gone crazy right then and there, but paul stood through it and still managed to save all those people. I really wish the U.S would help these people, but we know the government wouln’t do that. If it was a threat to us then we would, but no other reason. We don’t want to get involved.

Hotel Rwanda--Brooke

By watching this movie I feel like you get a better understanding. When people show you facts it's like, "Wow, that's crazy." But when you see a movie like this you see what is happening to these people, and you have a better sense of understanding what they are going through. I feel like what the journalist said is very true. Even though the United States wants to say we're trying to help, that we care, we still care more about celebrities, and ourselves.

I really liked the movie and I think that the ending helps get the sick feeling out of the pit of your stomach. They found their nieces, and they escaped. I wonder if they still had Hutu's trying to attack the buses. Did a lot of Hutu's get punished? Do they still put Hutu or Tutsi on passports today? I wonder what ever happened to the parents.

Randi Tumilty-Hotel Rwanda

I just don't understand how people can go on with their day when horrible things like this are happening everywhere. Maybe there's not much we can do, but there should be something. At least spread awareness, right?
I understand why things like this continue to happen. The world revolves around selfishness- It's a plague that lives inside all of us. Refusing to help others unless there's something in it for us. Although it's good not to let people walk all over you, when something like this is happening, how can you just stand there and wait to be bribed before you agree to assist? So it's true that there are victims in the world, but aren't we all victims of each other?
I guess just the fact that during a genocide, nobody stops to think that it's wrong, and if they do, they usually don't stand against it. Why do we keep repeating history in such an awful way?

Hotel Rwanda - Krog

Before I did my project on the Rwanda Genocide and saw this movie, I had known little or none about this mass killing. It was horrible, but the bad guys must have done a lot of planning to get that many people killed that fast. I mean, no one wakes up, starts an army, and kills everyone they see. It would have to take a lot of planning. Now, I realize how much really happened. Your quote, 'Oh my God, that's awful. Those poor people,' but then they'll just go back to eating their dinner," is very true. Many people agree that it is bad, but will do nothing about it. I think that in order to get people to want to help, you have to get them to 'truly' feel sorry for them, or people will just ignore it. Everyone could do something, but not many will. I don't think that I have any final thoughts or questions.

Noah Genocide Comments

I thought overall this was a good unit. I learned a lot of stuff about all the genocides that have happened over the years, and I learned more about the ones I already knew about. I was surprised that so many genocides have happened in recent years. I already thought of myself as pretty pessimistic about most things, but I guess I thought people would've learned from past mistakes.

Most of the stuff we learned about the Holocaust I already knew. Not much to say about that one.

I hardly knew anything about the Rwandan genocide before the movie, though. It was very interesting to learn the circumstances behind everything that happened. It was pretty disturbing to learn that the only difference between Hutu and Tutsi was that the Belgians decided the ones with better noses and slightly lighter skin were a better class, and there were no cultural or belief differences between them. It's amazing people can have so much hatred for people of a different "class" than them.

Hotel Rwanda Reflection

I really liked this movie. I thought it gave it's viewers a great idea of what happened and what was going on. Obviously it's not the real thing, but it kind of gives us an idea of what it was like for the people who went through that. It is a really sad movie, but I'm glad we watched it because it helped me better understand what was really going on in the Rwandan genocide.

I kind of wish we could do something to help these people. It's horrible and super sad, but we don't really need to be at war with anyone else. It would be great if we could help them, but I don't think our government thought it was our "place" to step in. I wish we could have stepped in and saved a lot of these people. I can't imagine what it would be like to go through something like that!

Hotel Rwanda Responce

I really like the way that it ended, but I thought that the buses were going to leave them. I mean, it was just a totally unexpected ending! They found their nieces, and they get to live... Wow! I thought in the end when they were going to the camp, that someone would jump on the back of the truck and shoot them all.... Surprise, it didn't happen! I thought the worst part about the movie was when they were driving down the road in the hotel van, and they ran over hundreds of dead bodies. I'm still wondering why they were being so cruel? Why wouldn't they take the Rwandans out of the country?

I didn't know anything about the Rwandan genocide so watching this movie taught me a lot. I can't believe how many people Paul took care of and saved by the end of the movie. It's crazy how many people died. I was kind of confused on who was helping who at the beginning. I don't know if we can always help people in situations like that. Most of the time there's nothing we can do, even if we want to help.

Hotel Rwanda: Kate Shoop

I really really liked the movie. It definitely showed us how bad it was with the Hutu and the Tutsi. I never really knew a ton about what all happened and this movie helped a lot with understand how bad it really was with the rebels and how heartless they were. It's crazy how most of the Rwanda army guys really just wanted to be given stuff and if they gave them the right amount of stuff then they would keep the Tutsi safe for maybe a day and then want more stuff for it. This movie was very interesting and I'm happy we got to watch it in this class so when we think of a genocide we don't only think of the Holocaust we think of Rwanda

Hotel Rwanda: Josie

At first I didn't like the beginning of the movie; I started liking the movie towards the middle maybe a little after that. The genocide was terrible here, but in a way it was better than the Holocaust, because people here had food, water, and good shelter. At the Holocaust they didn't have nearly as much as the Rwandan's. The fist time they took the people who had visa's out was pretty memorable for me because of the attack, but they made it out. These people were super luck because they made it out of almost every situation of where they could have gotten killed.

People should be more aware of what other countries are going through and help. Today's society is revolved around themselves; we could do something but some people are too greedy.

Hotel Rwanda

It helped me understand what exactly was going on during the genocide. It is crazy that things like that can happen in this world. Why can't everyone just get along? I thought some of the crazy moments were seeing all the dead people on the road, seeing people suffering on the side of the road, the Hutu's being so horrible to the Tutsi's, then at the end when you see 100s of people walking away from the rebel line, and when the rebels help at the end. It is horrible to think that actually happened. I feel like alot of people don't know what happened during this or the Holocaust. There's not much we can do now for some of the genocides, but for the ones that happened recently or the ones going on, we can send money and supplies to help them recover faster. I also think there should be more knowledge out there in the public about it. There's not much we can do here, but I'm sure if you donate a few dollars or a few cents it all counts in the end. I really liked this unit. I liked learning about these kinds of things. Even though it was very horrible, I'm glad I have the knowledge about it now.

Sites and Facts

How is it possible that most people did not know what was happening in Rwanda? The same reason(s) many have not heard of Darfur. What can we do today to be made more aware of potentially tragic situations around the world? Check out these links:

http://www.savedarfur.org Save Darfur
http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/sudan/index.do Amnesty International’ s Sudan Crisis
http://www.amnestyusa.org/ Amnesty International USA
http://www.hrw.org/ Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrrfoundation.org/ Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation

Rwanda
800,000-1.07 million killed in 100 days
8,000-10,710 killed per day
334-447 killed per hour
6-7 killed per minute.

Darfur, Sudan
400,00 people have been killed in 1095 days
366 people are killed every day
15 people are killed every hour
1 person is killed every minute


Holocaust
6 million Jews killed in 1460 days
4,110 killed per day
171 killed per hour
3 killed per minute

Hotel Rwanda

We've discussed the Holocaust, shared information about genocides throughout world history and viewed Hotel Rwanda. This is your chance to express your opinions about the unit, specifically about the film. What did you learn or come away with a better understanding of after viewing the film? What moments were surprising, shocking or memorable? I like the quote from the journalist when he's talking to Paul and says something along the lines of, "People (outside of Rwanda) will see the atrocities on TV and think,'Oh my God, that's awful. Those poor people,' but then they'll just go back to eating their dinner." The journalist reflects on the state of mind of those of us who are so far removed from the horror that is going on that, yes, we feel bad, but we are also content to keep quiet. Is there something we can do? Is there something we should do? Lastly, any final thoughts or questions about anything that has come up throughout the course of this unit?