Hotel Rwanda as a War Move - Essay Example

Name: Institution: Course: Instructor: Date: Hotel Rwanda Classified as a war move, Hotel Rwanda is a captivating work of art. Its shows the experiences of a Rwandese man named Paul Rusesabagina during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994 to 1995. It shows how the Tutsi refugees suffered fighting to stay alive under a Hutu reign that wanted them dead and how the international community let down the people of Rwanda. The movie is a depiction of how the world powers are led by interests and not concern for the welfare of citizens when they decide on humanitarian intervention and how wars have been commercialized. The movie begins with a broadcast from the national radio station that says that “the Tutsi were Belgium collaborators and that they are now infesting the country. The broadcast says that the Tutsi are cockroaches that need to be wiped out. It goes ahead to say that the Tutsi people need to be wiped out.” The main character, Paul Rusesabagina, goes to pick supplies, and there is heavy military presence on the roads of Kigali. He is seen bribing the airport officials, a precedence for the rest of the movie. At George Rutaganda’s warehouse, who is also an Interahamwe militia leader he sees machetes that have been imported from china. Following the death of the president after his plane was shot down over Kigali, chaos erupts. A radio broadcast calls for the “cutting down of the tall trees”, meaning that the Tutsi should be killed. Tutsi neighbours hide in Paul’s house, where he secures their passage to the hotel des Mille Collines. The United Nations forces are few and under strict instructions not to intervene. The army is accused of training the militia but General Buzimugu, who is also one of Paul’s contacts, denies this. The international community only sends forces to evacuate foreign nationals, leaving behind Rwandan refugees (Hotel Rwanda). Paul keeps on bribing and calling in favours in order to have his guests’ safety secured. Eventually help comes and they are evacuated, marking the end of their suffering. It is important to not however that this is not as a result of foreign efforts but as a deal between the Hutu forces and the Tutsi rebel forces to exchange refuges (Hotel Rwanda). A strong depiction of militarism is seen throughout the movie. It is seen when the film first begins as the roads are lined with armed Rwandan army soldiers. The United Nation’s army lead by Colonel Oliver, though under siege, does its best to protect the refugees hiding in the hotel and other political leaders. Some of them are killed as they protect the Prime minister who is also killed by the Interahamwe. Colonel Oliver and his men also come under siege when Interahamwe militia drive to the Hotel threatening them by with machetes and throwing at them the helmets of soldiers they had already killed (Hotel Rwanda). In spite of this Colonel Oliver puts two of his best men at the gate to protect the refugees. Even when the European forces mandate an intervention to evacuate all foreign nationals, Colonel Oliver is seen trying to negotiate for the Rwandan refugees to be evacuated. When he is unable to do so he gets frustrated and throws down his beret in anger. Later he and his men pull a daring attempt to evacuate some of the Rwandan refugees and even when the Interahamwe ambush them, they hold strong risking their own live s to protect the refugees who are under their protection. Eventually, they do manage to evacuate all the Rwandan refugees from the hotel (Hotel Rwanda). This shows the common trend among the world powers to pursue military might and heroism. The United States for example has built its armies since the beginning of the 20th century and has severally engaged them in wars outside the United States. These engagements are usually depicted as acts of heroism where the soldiers put their lives on the line to protect or free the citizens of the countries they invade such as the 2002 invasion of Iraq (No End in Sight Iraq's Descent into Chaos). Militarism and corporatism go hand in hand. As president Eisenhower said the United States developed its military as well as the military industrial complex and it is this complex that he foresaw would end up fanning wars if their power was not checked. In his farewell speech Eisenhower warned of the danger of the military complex that developed following the World Wars. He states that before these wars the United States did not have an armament industry and had not seen such a boom in weapons and weapon’s industries. He also states that such great numbers of trained soldiers had never been witnessed before (Eisenhower, par 6). It is because of this that he warns that there is a risk of the military complex becoming too powerful and beginning to control the country. He alludes to the fact that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So that it is important to check the power of the military industrial complex, through government as it may interfere with the liberties of the people and the democratic process of the nation (Eisenhower warns us of the military industrial complex). At the beginning of the movie, when Paul goes to buy supplies from George Rutaganda , a container of machetes falls on the floor. Rutaganda informs Paul that he got a deal from china and that the machetes were worth 50 cents apiece depicting how corporate entities fuel wars. When the Hotel comes under threat from the Interahamwe, Paul calls the Head of the hotel in Brussels. When he asks him who he can call to stop the attack Paul says “the French”. This is because according to him they were the ones that supplied the Rwandan army with weapons. This works as the attempt is stopped and this is apparently because he got through to the French president. Paul is the manager of the hotel des Mille Collines and as such he, together with the other compliant workers, work to maintain the dignity of the establishment under the prevailing crisis. They are in uniforms at all times and Paul Rusesabagina wears his suites and maintains a professional aura the whole time. This indicates that the business establishment is of great importance and its worth is paramount compared to the prevailing insecurity. (Hotel Rwanda). It is also highlighted that the International community did not intervene in the genocide because to them Rwanda was not of much economic value to them. This would attest to the fact that corporate bodies control decision-making in most countries. Colonel Oliver tells Paul that much when the Belgian army is sent to evacuate only the foreigners. He says “they think you are dirt, they think you are worthless and they are not going to stop this war”. The head of the hotel chain emphasises this point when he informs Paul that his attempts to secure their evacuation were futile because Rwanda is not valuable to the world powers (Hotel Rwanda). To illustrate the irony, as the foreigners are evacuated, one of the women is carrying a dog. Instead of them evacuating Rwandan refugees who were fellow human beings under threat, they saw it fit to evacuate a dog (Hotel Rwanda). All this depicts the concept of corporatism where financial interests surpass human needs. Note that at this time in history, the United States was the super power following the downfall of the Soviet Union in 1991. But at this time the United States was more preoccupied with policy development. It was preoccupied more specifically with policy to ensure that no other state would threaten its super power status (Jareki, pg 39). Compared to other states Rwanda was not a threat and offered not economic importance to them. That is why it was easier for the United States to intervene in the Gulf following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in the early 1990s (Andreas, pg 42). The most recent case being its invasion of Iraq in 2002 following the 9/11 bomb attacks (Why we Fight) Another concept that is strong in this movie is Patriotism. Patriotism is borne out of adversity when ones country is under threat. This threat is either from internal forces such as the militarisation of Rwanda where the army and the Interahamwe were trained and armed to wage a genocide against the Tutsi or from external forces such as corporatism as was the case where the Chinese companies supplied cheap machetes to the Interahamwe and the French companies supplied the Rwandan military with weapons enabling the genocide. False patriotism led to the genocide where the Hutu felt they were more entitled than the Tutsi and felt that in order to secure their future they had to get rid of the Tutsi. The radio broadcaster out of his false sense of patriotism labels the Tutsi “cockroaches” and ends up calling for their killing when the Hutu president they faithfully followed is killed (Hotel Rwanda). Despite being a Hutu Paul endangers his life by bribing the military officials in order to save the lives of his family and Tutsi neighbours. As the manager of the hotel des Mille Collines, he offers refuge to Rwandan refugees many of who are politicians, spies and traitors marked by the Interahamwe. He negotiates to have the United Nations soldiers guard the hotel and even when the UN soldiers are evacuated he seeks the help of the head of the hotel chain in Brussels to stop the military from killing them. He risks being killed by lying to the military officer who is in charge of the troop that had come to execute them (Hotel Rwanda). It could also be because of Patriotism that the United States was hesitant to intervene in the Rwandan genocide. Just a month earlier, President Bill Clinton had sent his troops on a peace keeping mission in Somalia. This mission ended disastrously, with the loss of men. It is in light of this experience that perhaps, Clinton was not willing to risk the lives of his men, ordering for a troop of only 200 non-combat soldiers in Rwanda (Jarenki, pg 40). Militarism, corporatism and patriotism all feed unending war. In this case negative patriotism laid the foundation for the eventual eruption of the genocide. Militarism which led to the need to create a strong army and to further train militia and arm them led to the creation of machinery that would soon be used to execute the genocide. Corporatism where companies’ interests and profit were paramount allowed the Chinese to supply cheap machetes to the Interahamwe militia and the French companies to supply the Rwandan army with weapons knowing that they would be used for genocide. All these factors led to a situation of unending war as the trained army and militia ended up carrying out the genocide and because they kept on being supplied with arms by foreign companies they kept the momentum and even when calls for the international community to intervene, economic interests were supreme paralysing any will to intervene. Rwanda was seen as a poor country that was not of much economic benefit to the Western countries. This is in contrast to the Gulf where numerous interventions have been undertaken. This is because this area is rich in oil and any instability in the area affects oil supplies and prices and since oil is a core fuel in the western world, they find it in their best interest to intervene to ensure their economies survive (No End in Sight Iraq's Descent into Chaos). The movie clearly shows how economic interests dominate world thinking. So much so that the Chinese supplied the very machetes that were used to kill the Tutsi and the French supplied the military with weapons enabling it to carry out attacks on Tutsi refugees. The companies that made these supplies were definitely under their government’s jurisdiction but clearly their governments cared more about what they brought in from foreign exchange. It shows how the false sense of patriotism fanned ethnic hatred among the Rwandans which then lead to the militarisation of the country with the military being made powerful and rebel groups such as the Interahamwe being trained. The situation was further fuelled by the supply of cheap machetes from china leading to a situation of perpetual war as the international community refused to intervene. But Paul’s true patriotism saves the day as his efforts secure the safety of almost 800 refugees. Works Cited Andreas, Joel. Addicted to war: Why the U.S Can’t Kick Militarism. New York: Ak Press, 2007. Eisenhower, Dwight. 1961. Military-Industrial complex speech. Retrieved 18 May 2013 Hotel Rwanda. Dir. Terry George. Prod. United Artists & Lions Gate Films. DVD. MGM Home Entertainment, 2005 No End in Sight Iraq's Descent into Chaos. Dir. Ferguson, Charles. Prod. Gibney, Alex. Representational Pictures. Magnolia pictures, ND Why we Fight. Prod. Jarecki Eugine. Sony classic pictures, 2008. Jareki Eugine. War and the Republic: A study Guide Companion to the Film “Why we fight” by Eugine. Jareki. New York: Eisenhower Project, 2008 Read More