South Africans - what was your opinion of 'Hotel Rwanda'?

Question

I believe that most of it was shot in and around Jo'burg.
Fantastic flick - starring a fantastic actor, Don Cheadle, as hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, who saved 1268 Tutsis from the hands of Hutu extremists during the Rwandan genocide of 1994.
Terrifically acted (I recognised some South African faces) and written with restraint. The musical score also was very moving.

Ironic that it should be shot in South africa, because I believe there are movies still to come about the present situation in South Africa.

Diesel - it is indeed a great movie, with many lessons to be learned.

MO - the international community is selective in its response to anything.

Answer 1

I watched it in a movie theatre, and afterwards I bought its DVD. I could only guess that most of it was shot in South Africa, I was not sure. I did realise that most of the actors were South African. I think its a great movie with a pinch of a historical lesson.

Answer 2

Excellent movie. I saw it a couple of times. Got it off limewire, but had to delete the thing, because of the quality. The video store closed down and now only sells old tapes. But my oh my! A flourish of Korean Video Rental Stores going out of business gave me the chance to buy the DVD from them for less than a dollar! One of the best buys I've ever made apart from my Depeche Mode collection.

Heartbreaking story that needed to be told. I never knew! And I know some guys from Rwanda and Tanzania. Met them in Korea for crying out loud!

Well, here's how the story goes... Me and a couple of friends get together to watch Fahrenheit 9/11 and this Canadian chick brings her boyfriend from Tanzania. He sees the movie in my DVD collection and goes crazy. Calls his buddy (from Rwanda) up and we start watching it later that evening. Everybody cries and screams all around me. And start pointing out actors from Isidingo and whatever! I saw this movie twice before! Me no cry...me already cried the first time seeing it. I'm like "oh, no!" to add to their tearful expressions.

Anyways, we start talking about SA and the Tanzanian can't stop talking about Shoprite and what a great store it is there in Tanzania. I mean, come on! So, I ask them if they foresee the same for South Africa. And they go: No! I ask again and they go: No!

By the end of the night I was as confused as Alf Garnett about the situation that just unfolded in front of my eyes. These guys were so optimistic about South Africa that I had to take a breather.

The Begiums did a great injustice to Rwanda by classifying people into groups. The Hutu's and the Tsutsi's. But it's great to see that these people look out for SA and expect us to lead the way, without any prejudice to the current situation. I believe that SA will not follow Rwanda's lead and think that there are a lot of Paul Rusesabagina's in South Africa.

Didn't know it was shot in SA.

Have you seen "Catch A Fire"? New movie about Umkhonto We Sizwe. I saw Tim Robbins talk about the movie on Letterman. Looks great. You can find the trailer under VIDEO here http://www.catchafiremovie.com/main.html

Answer 3

G'day Brad M,

Thank you for your question.

Hotel Rwanda was shot mainly in South Africa. Apparently, South Africa uses right hand drive rather than left hand drive as used in Rwanda.

Hopefully, other movies will be made on African themes as you suggest.

Regards

Answer 4

ja ,i seen it.thought that certain things and actors looked abit fimiliar.didnt know that it was shot in joeys.will download it and take a closer look.bye the way what happened to your question about jl´s?i put alot of effort into answering it.

Answer 5

I wish the international community would have responded to the genocide..........I wish Clinton would have acted as well.................

Answer 6

I haven't seen it yet but I heard it is brilliant.

Answer 7

well, it was a movie well played. We want more...