 MSNBC.com |
The genocide in Rwanda, which took place a decade ago, was the subject of little news coverage at the time and seems an unlikely subject for a film released during the holidays. But in "Hotel Rwanda," which stars Don Cheadle, director Terry George has created a searing, heartbreaking portrayal of a family caught in the frenetic, barbaric killing spree that left nearly 1 million people dead.
Out of the carnage emerged an unlikely and heretofore unsung hero, Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who risked his life and saved 1,268 people from death.
Katie Couric: What was your life like, Paul, before April 6, 1994?
Paul Rusesabagina: I was a peaceful hotel manager.
Couric: You were a family man.
Rusesabagina: A family man.
Couric: Making a comfortable living.
Rusesabagina: Very much. Very close to my family.
But on April 6, 1994, life in Rwanda drastically changed. The president of Rwanda was assassinated, igniting a centuries-old power struggle between two different ethnic groups.
Rusesabagina: The next morning when I woke up, I was surrounded by neighbors, all of whom had guns. I couldn't believe it. And many of my neighbors were just running, rushing to come to my house to hide.
In just over three months, nearly a million people who were considered Tutsi by their heritage were slaughtered — most of them by machete-wielding members of a rival tribe known as the Hutus. It was a holocaust of epic proportions.
Couric: This was the cover of Time magazine on May 16, 1994: “There are no devils left in hell,” the missionary said. “They are all in Rwanda.”
Director Terry George: By May 16, the bulk of the slaughter was over. By the time we caught onto this, it was almost too late.
Couric: Why did you want to make this movie? How did it come about?
George: Paul transmitted to me his own courage, and as he told me the story, I got the picture of this ordinary man living a comfortable, middle-class life in Kigali; the complete opposite to what we imagined had gone on in Rwanda. And that allowed me to write a story that I believe everybody could identify with.
Couric: You turned your hotel into a refugee camp. That took a tremendous amount of courage, not to mention a tremendous amount of savvy. How did you find the courage to do what you did?
Rusesabagina: I really don't know whether I had a special courage. I just take myself as someone who did what he was supposed to do. Who did his job.
Couric: Clearly, there were so many times when you must have thought your life was going to be over. That your children were going to be killed, your wife. Innocent people.
Rusesabagina: That much, I knew. I knew I was the first to be hunted, because I was protecting people, refugees.
Couric: The movie is so tragic, of course, but it's also so maddening. You see that the world really abandoned these people, including the United Nations. Why wasn't more done to help the people in Rwanda?
George: Well, this event happened just a few months after the debacle of Somalia and the Blackhawk Down incident, which was a disastrous intervention by the U.N. And equally, it had widespread political effect here. That mind-set became, "We will not intervene again in Africa."
And now we're witnessing this slow rolling genocide in Sudan and Darfur.
Since February 2003, more than 70,000 people have been killed in the Darfur region of Sudan in what the U.N. has described as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
One and a half million people have been displaced from their homes, more than 2.3 million are in desperate need of aid, and international efforts have done little to stop the violence.
Don Cheadle: It's so underreported. We haven't seen Sudan in the news in I don't know how many days, or how many weeks, and it's setting up to be the same kind of debacle as was Rwanda. And again, very few people know about it. And no one says anything.
George: And I think all of us, subliminally or subconsciously, are guilty of a certain racism that human life in Africa is clearly not of the value of human life in the Western world. There's no question about that.
Couric: Paul, how did this whole experience change you as a person?
Rusesabagina: Before the genocide, I used to be very different. I used to love people, to be very close to people. But after the genocide, after having seen what all my colleagues and even my best friends have done, I completely changed. I don't trust anyone. I suspect all.
Couric: Tatiana, your wife, was so important in terms of helping you through this, wasn't she?
Rusesabagina: Definitely. I sometimes wonder if she was not there, what I would have done. But then I don't dwell on that question, because it never happened.
Today, Paul lives in Belgium with his wife, Tatiana, and their six children, including the daughters of Tatiana's brother, who was murdered along with his wife.
Couric: Does it bring back frightening memories for you to watch this movie?
Rusesabagina: Well, whenever we sit down and think about the genocide, and talk about it, we sometimes spend sleepless nights. We have never forgotten.
Couric: Don, USA Today called this a career-making performance for you. Variety said your heartfelt compassion could clear the way for you to receive an Academy Award nomination.
Cheadle: Those were all paid for. [Laughter] This was amazing in so many ways beyond just doing the film. I was able to take my family to Africa. And that was, you know, invaluable. And this is definitely the pinnacle so far of the roles that I've had.
Rusesabagina: It is just as if he has seen what happened in 1994. As if he took himself, and put himself in my skin.
Couric: What do you hope people will take away from this movie?
Rusesabagina: Well, I hope that what took place in Rwanda might not be repeated anywhere else in the world.
George: We've often heard politicians say, "Never again." I think those are two of the most defaced words in the language because it actually translates into again and again. You cannot leave the movie and say, "I didn't know about this, and we should have done something." We should do something now about the situation in Africa.