Hotel Rwanda as a Tale of Heroism and Survival - Essay Example

Name: xxxxxxxxxxx Course: xxxxxxxxxxx Institution: xxxxxxxxxxx Title: Media Task Date: xxxxxxxxxxx “Hotel Rwanda”, a tale of heroism, survival (Roger Ebert- Chicago Sun- Times) The article by Roger Ebert- a renowned film critic- is a film review of Hotel Rwanda, a powerful and emotional movie based on the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The movie is based on the real life account of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager of the four star Hotel Des Milles Collines in Kigali who saved 1200 Tutsis and Hutu moderates from the infamous ethnic massacre that was the Rwandan genocide (Taylor 2002). Hotel Rwanda is the gripping tale of how Rusesabagina (played by Don Cheadle) was able to use his managerial skill, expertise in situational ethics and connections with Hutu generals to shield the 1200 Tutsis and Hutu moderates who sought shelter in his hotel at the height of the genocide. Rusesabagina is able to disguise the refugees in his hotel as guests, which ensures their survival. An example of his expertise in situational ethics is how he manages to convince a Hutu general that it would be in his best interests to avoid direct involvement in the genocide on the promise that he would testify on his behalf once the crisis attracts international attention (Ebert 2004). Hotel Rwanda focuses on retelling the genocide story from individual perspectives, in this case, Rusesabagina’s. The root cause of the genocide in Rwanda is the ethnic conflict between the Hutu and the Tutsis. In the colonial era, the arbitrary boundaries set by Germans and the Belgians forced enemy tribes to settle on the same land (Ebert 2004). Under Belgian colonial rule, the Tutsis were used to exert dominance and control over the Hutus sowing the seeds of ethnic hatred. But in post colonial Rwanda, the Hutus had turned the tables on the Tutsis and were in control of the country’s political institutions most significantly the presidency (Ebert 2004). The now-dominant Hutu used their power and influence to exact a grisly revenge on the Tutsis by attempting ethnic cleansing. In the ensuing massacre, an estimated million Tutsis and Hutu moderates (or Tutsi sympathizers) were butchered by Hutu militias. A United Nations peacekeeper, Colonel Oliver, tries to draw international attention to the tragedy but much like Rusesabagina’s pleas for intervention from the hotel’s corporate headquarters in Brussels (Sabena), he is ignored. Isolated and ignored by the international community, Oliver and Rusesabagina are left to their own devices to try and save the more than one thousand lives for whom they suddenly find themselves responsible (Ebert 2004). Hotel Rwanda illustrates how social institutions such as ethnicity and historical factors such as colonialism shape cultural interactions in society (Harrow 2005). The genocide in Rwanda was the culmination of deep rooted ethnic animosity between the Tutsi and the Hutu. This was cultivated by Rwanda’s colonial legacy where one ethnic group, the Tutsi, was perceived by the other as an extension of colonial power and subsequently, in the eyes of the Hutu, became the dominant group. Consequently, social and political relations in post colonial Rwanda between the Tutsi and the Hutu would be influenced by these perceptions. In the build up to the genocide, Hutu extremists would refer to the Tutsi as “cockroaches” that were meant to be exterminated (Harrow 2005). The trigger for the genocide, the assassination of Hutu president Juvenal Habiryamana, provided the opportunity for Hutu extremists to apportion blame to the Tutsi as the culprits. Ebert refers to the role played by the Hutu elite in planning the genocide. This is an instrumentalist approach to understanding ethnic conflicts where the elite, or ruling class, mobilize ethnic identities to respond to what they perceive are threats to their power and influence (Harrow 2005). The assassination of Habiryamana provided the Hutu extremists with the perfect opportunity to incite Hutu passions against the Tutsi. The reference to Rwanda’s colonial history also supports the constructivist argument that social, political and economic circumstances, such as the economic advantages enjoyed by the Tutsi due to their favored past, can lead to ethnic violence. This is where the elite construct antagonistic ethnic identities in order to increase or maintain their political power (Fearon and Laitin 2000). Taylor (2002) has also argued that there could be a cultural face to the Rwanda genocide. He points out that there may be more to the genocide than is suggested and that the Hutu may have been motivated to eliminate Tutsi culture which they perceived as a threat to the continuity of their own culture (Taylor 2002). “Mao’s Last Dancer” Steps Lightly (Barry Paris, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette) and New to America, Discovering Its Glitter (by Mike Hale) Barry Paris and Mike Hale review Mao’s Last Dancer, a movie based on the real-life autobiography of ballet dancer Li Cunxin. Through Li’s personal experience, the movie brings out the contrasts in American and Chinese culture. Li is transplanted from Shandong province as a young boy to Beijing where he is subjected to rigorous ballet training. Subsequently, he becomes the beneficiary of a cultural exchange program which takes him from Beijing to Houston in what is described as “a cross cultural journey from Red rags to Yankee riches” (Paris 2010). In America, Li is immersed into a new culture, with new value systems and a way of life he never knew existed. The cultural differences between America and China make adjustment to a new life difficult for Li and leave him in a personal dilemma. Mao’s Last Dancer is an emotional film and dwells on the emotional dilemmas and difficult decisions faced by Li in adjusting from one culture to another (Hale 2010). On the one hand, he was been forewarned on defecting from China with the threat that he will never be allowed back while on the other hand, he is drawn to the glitter, the opportunities and the trappings of liberal American society. He is also torn between allegiance to his family back in China and to a romantic relationship which has blossomed between him and a fellow dancer, Elizabeth, in Houston. When Li eventually defects, his parents face humiliation and worse and he is barred from ever returning to China. These decisions take an emotional toll on Li, his family and his marriage. Li’s marriage even fails due to the distress caused by his defection on him and his family. The emotions come out in the latter stages of the movie when Li is reunited with his parents in America and when he makes his emotional return to Shandong (Hale 2010). Mao’s Last Dancer also points to the cultural and political differences between America and China which make adjustment difficult for Li. For example, the presence portraits of Communist icons such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin and Chairman Mao Zedong in classroom walls reflect a predominantly Communist political system unlike liberalism and capitalism in America. America is also depicted as less authoritarian with Paris pointing out that the challenge in China is leaving while the challenge in America is entering. However, one is free to leave America at will. In addition, while Li’s roots are in the poor, agrarian Shandong province, he finds himself in America, the land of kitchen blenders and ATM machines. This is despite the indoctrination that China has the best living conditions in the world. Paris also makes reference to the stereotypes about Chinese and Americans which have colored each culture’s understanding or misunderstanding of each other. For example, the comment by an American that “Chinese dancers have amazing technique but no emotion” may be true owing to Li’s experience of being forced into grueling ballet training despite his dislike for ballet dancing (Paris 2010). This implies American perceptions of the Chinese as methodical and diligent yet constrained due to the lack of emotion. Another stereotype highlighted by the movie is that of Chinese innocence and American experience. Li is apparently still a virgin in a country marked by “libidinous disco nights” and casual sex (Hale 2010). On the other hand, Chinese culture is more conservative. As opposed to the sexual overtones suggested in American dance and ballet, ballet in China is used as a tool of cultural expression. Paris refers to the adaptation of classical dance to proletarian pageants such as "The Women's Detachment of the Red Guards Heroically Defends the Homeland." Roberts (2008) demonstrates that dance was often used to serve the purpose of ideological transmission in China- elevating the proletariat or working class as the new masters of society. (Roberts 2008). In conclusion, Mao’s Last Dancer shows how intercultural and international relationships between China and America are shaped by culture, value systems, history and politics. China finds scapegoat for bloody unrest (Lincoln Tan- NZ Herald) The article by ethnic affairs reporter Lincoln Tan highlights the plight of the Uyghur (Uighur) people of China as reflected in the controversy surrounding the screening of the documentary The 10 Conditions of Love at the Melbourne Film Festival in 2009 (Tan 2010). He establishes the link between the Chinese government’s attempts to have the documentary withdrawn from the Melbourne Film Festival and the ethnic unrest between the Han Chinese and the Uyghur that erupted in Urumqi, the provincial capital of Xinjiang province in China, in July 2009 that claimed 197 lives. Having been unsuccessful in their attempt to have the documentary withdrawn, the Chinese government released its own side of the story through another propagandist documentary, Xinjiang Urumqi July 5 Riot: Truth. This was an apparent response to The 10 Conditions of Love which the Chinese government subsequently managed to have screened on Maori TV (in New Zealand) after The 10 Conditions of Love. The Chinese government’s reply places the blame for the violent ethnic unrest squarely on Rebiya Kadeer, the “scapegoat”, branding her as a Muslim terrorist and vindicating their policies towards the Uyghur people in Xinjiang by pointing to historical facts which conclude that their policies have brought development to the region (Tan 2010). Why the controversy surrounding the documentary? Produced by Australian Jeff Daniels, The 10 Conditions of Love is a documentary on the life and struggle of Rebiya Kadeer, the 62 year old exiled leader of the Uyghurs. The Uyghurs are a Turkic-speaking Muslim ethnic minority group found in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in the People’s Republic of China or simply Xinjiang province (Dwyer 2005). The movie seeks to substantiate allegations that the Uyghurs have been victims of systematic state repression by the Chinese government. For instance, the Chinese government has forcibly transferred Uyghur populations (women and children) out of Xinjiang and in turn encouraged migration of millions of Han Chinese into Xinjiang who have diluted Uyghur population, taken up most of the attractive and well paying jobs and left the Uyghur feeling like second class citizens (Tan 2010; Gershman 2010). Xinjiang is also rich in mineral wealth such as oil but the proceeds are directed towards developing coastal regions (Tan 2010). The Chinese government has also actively attempted to wipe out or dissolve Uyghur culture by outlawing the use of their language, demolishing their cultural hinterland (or “the cradle of Uyghur culture”) in the Old City of Kashgar, banning and burning their books and imposing controls on their freedom of worship such as prohibiting the building of mosques and forcibly “re-educating” their leaders to wipe out traces of Islam (Gershman 2010). Xinjiang’s strategic importance in terms of size, economic potential and security has been cited as a possible explanation for the Chinese government’s policy towards Uyghurs (Clarke 2010). This treatment has created and sustained ethnic tensions between the Han Chinese and the Uyghurs which flared up and erupted in July 5 2009 (Tan 2010). Rabeya Kadeer is considered the spiritual leader and the voice of the Uyghur, something they lacked for a long time. She is to the Uyghur what the Dalai Lama is to Tibet (Tan 2010). The movie centers in on her personal experiences within the context of Uyghur struggle for autonomy. Jeff Daniels chronicles her personal struggles and experiences such as her quest to find true love and the 10 conditions she sets for her future spouse (hence the title of the documentary), her journey from poverty to entrepreneurial success and her fall from grace through imprisonment and exile for speaking out against the Chinese government’s treatment of the Uyghur . However, the Chinese government seems intent on depicting her and the World Uighur Congress as Muslim terrorists, separatists and extremists and seeking support for what they claim is part of the global “war on terror” (Dwyer 2005). It has also vindicated itself of cultural repression and oppression claiming that she orchestrated the Urumqi violence as part of a wider secession plot by the former East Turkestan Republic. Tan’s article is a review of the two sides of the story- the Chinese governments’ and the Uyghurs’ (told through Kadeer). It demonstrates the role of history, ethnicity, politics and religion in fermenting ethnic violence which erupted in the Urumqi riots. For instance, in their reply to Lewis’ documentary, the Chinese government has used the Uyghur’s Islamic religion to link them to Al Qaeda and other Asian terrorist groups (Dwyer 2005). This supports negative cultural religious stereotypes which view Islam as monolithic and violent in nature. The violence is also rooted in China’s fragmented and culturally and ethnically diverse past which brought the Han Chinese and the Muslim Uyghur into close contact. However, decades of what the Uyghur consider cultural oppression have sown the seeds of ethnic unrest which erupted in July 5, 2009. Tan’s review of both documentaries tells of a struggle for cultural identity and survival by the Muslim Uyghur (and Kadeer). The controversy over the screening of The 10 Conditions of Love has also internationalized the conflict in Xinjiang province and negatively influenced global perceptions of China (Clarke 2010). The Dalai Lama, Toddler to Grown Man in Exile (Stephen Holden- The New York Times) Stephen Holden’s article is a film review of the movie Kundun. Directed by Martin Scorsese, Kundun is the story of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama and spiritual leader of Tibet. The movie gives a historical account of the life of the Dalai Lama from his discovery in 1937 at 2 and half years of age to his escape to India in 1959 after the Chinese crushed the Tibetan revolt (Holden 1997). Holden describes the movie using terms such as beautiful, surreal, majestic, poignant, emotionally remote, the first chapter of a larger and more complex historical drama and Scorsese’s closest attempt at pure cinema. Kundun is a chronological account of the Dalai Lama’s early life. It captures his transition from childhood to his youth. Tenzin Gyatso is discovered as a young boy by Buddhist lamas and taken away from his home to Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet, where he undergoes spiritual training and education as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama (Hoden 1997). Kundun is a chronological account of the early life personal experiences of the Dalai Lama amidst the political turmoil surrounding him. It is a deeply religious movie- described by Holden as a prayer- that reflects on the pacifist religious culture of the Tibetan people (Holden). It also serves to bring world attention to the Tibetan clause through the perspective of its political and spiritual leader. It is a a form of cultural expression where popular media such as documentaries and visually stunning films are used to bring international attention to areas such as Tibet and Xinjiang who are locked in a struggle for survival with hegemonic powers (Bishop 2000). Initially, the Dalai Lama is shielded from the harsh realities of the struggle for Tibetan autonomy against the onslaught by the People’s Republic of China but as he matures into his youth, he takes center stage in the conflict (Holden 2007). He even meets with Chairman Mao Zedong in an attempt to find a solution to the standoff but a defiant Mao crushes any hope the Dalai Lama holds of a peaceful resolution. When China eventually invades Tibet, the Dalai Lama is forced to flee to India to seek refuge and to protect his life. Kundun provides a basis for understanding the China-Tibet conflict from a cultural and religious standpoint. By focusing on the Dalai Lama’s youth, Scorsese is able to give a glimpse into the genesis of the conflict such as covering the Chinese invasion of Tibet. The Dalai Lama’s meeting with Mao, where the latter denounces religion, is a significant marker of the cultural differences between the Chinese and Tibetans (Bishop 2000). Both Mao and the Dalai Lama are highly exalted and considered the political, spiritual and cultural leaders in their respective countries. The Dalai Lama, deeply spiritual and religious, comes face to face with the Communist and anti religious Mao who reaffirms his belief to the Dalai Lama that religion is poison. Kundun is not just as an autobiography of the 14th Dalai Lama but also as representative of the deeply spiritualized and religious ideals of Tibetan culture. Kundun is as much of a prayer as it is a movie. The Tibetan- Chinese conflict has also served as an “irritant” to Chinese diplomatic relations with other countries demonstrating the role inter ethnic conflict plays in international relations. Films like Kundun and the 10 Conditions of Love show an increasing trend where cultural conflicts are internationalized through popular media (Bishop 2000). References Bishop, P 2000, “Caught in the cross-fire: Tibet, media and promotional culture”, Media, Culture & Society, vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 645-664. Clarke, M 2010, “China, Xinjiang and the internationalization of the Uyghur issue”, Global Change, Peace & Security, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 213 – 229. Dwyer, A 2005, The Xinjiang conflict: Uyghur identity, language policy, and political discourse, East-West Center (Washington, D.C.) Policy Studies (47) pp xii-106, Retrieved on May 15, 2011 from Ebert, R 2004, “Hotel Rwanda”, a tale of heroism, survival, Chicago Sun Times, 22 December, Retrieved on May 12, 2011 from Fearon, J & Laitin, D 2000, “Violence and the Social Construction of Ethnic Identity”, International Organization, vol.54, no. 4, pp. 845–877. Gershman, C 2010, “Ending the silence on China's Uighur repression”, The Washington Post, 5 July, Retrieved on May 15, 2011 from < http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/04/AR2010070403850.html> Hale, M 2010, “New to America, Discovering Its Glitter”, The New York Times, 19 August, Retrieved on May 14, 2011 from < http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/movies/20mao.html?bl> Harrow, K 2005, "Un train peut en cacher un autre: Narrating the Rwandan Genocide and Hotel Rwanda”, Research in African Literatures, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 223-232. Holden S 1997, Film Review: The Dalai Lama, Toddler to Grown Man in Exile, The New York Times, 24 December, Retrieved on May 16, 2011 from < http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/24/movies/film-review-the-dalai-lama-toddler-to-grown-man-in-exile.html> Paris, B 2010, “Mao’s Last Dancer steps lightly”, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, 10 September, Retrieved on May 14, 2011 from Roberts, R 2008, “Performing Gender in Maoist Ballet: Mutual Subversions of Genre and Ideology in The Red Detachment of Women”, Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific Issue 16, Retrieved on May 15, 2011 from < http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue16/roberts.htm> Tan, L 2009, China finds scapegoat for bloody unrest, NZ Herald, 22 August, Retrieved on May 15, 2011 from < http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10592342> Taylor, C 2002, “The Cultural Face of Terror in the Rwandan Genocide of 1994”, in Hinton, A (ed), Annihilating Difference: the Anthropology of Genocide, University of California Press, California. 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