Hotel Rwanda 2004

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: If Hotel Rwanda does nothing more than provoke the obvious questions of 'How did this happen?' and 'How can we prevent it from happening again?' it has, like the hotelier who refuses to consider himself a hero, done its job. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: All we can do is hope that films such as Hotel Rwanda remind us all -- moviegoer and politician -- of the terrible cost of doing nothing. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: It's a great story. But it's Cheadle who makes the movie really special, delivering a memorable and utterly convincing portrayal of a truly good man. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It has a genuine power: the ability of film to beam light onto dark days of history, making it impossible for us to look away, reminding us of what we should never forget. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Perhaps the best movie of the year, worthy of multiple Academy Award nominations. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Cheadle gives one of the best performances (if not the best) of last year -- an Oscar-worthy portrait of a man who kept his head clear and his humanity intact in the midst of a man-made hell. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Showing traces of the well-meaning paternalism that dogs many Western films about Africa, Hotel Rwanda doesn't go far enough in indicting Europeans and Americans for protecting their own while failing to intervene in time to stop the mass killings. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: A horrifying yet compelling story of man's inhumanity to man. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The twofold agenda in Hotel Rwanda is to commemorate what Paul Rusesabagina did and to shame each and every Westerner who sees the movie. On both of those counts it is successful. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: A film that uses the comfort of the predictable to make horror palatable to a wider audience. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: Because of the subject matter, this feels like one of those films you see because it's good for you. But it also is an extraordinarily moving drama. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: The film defines how, using cunning and courage, a person can change the course of history -- and stand up to the inhumanity in our midst. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: The world stayed out of Rwanda for fear of doing an imperfect job. Bold filmmakers are at their best when they mature beyond that kind of paralysis. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Hotel Rwanda is a strange history lesson that leaves us more overlectured than properly overwhelmed. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: There is much to respect in Hotel Rwanda, not least Cheadle's subtly crafted performance, which allows the audience a direct connection to his ethical growth. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: A must-see for teens (and adults, for that matter) who know the Rwanda massacre as but a distant headline. Read more

Ernest Hardy, L.A. Weekly: Hooks viewers by having us ride shotgun to Paul's awakening consciousness. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Cheadle, whose Rusesabagina is both heroic and psychologically complex, is never less than utterly believable. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It does portray, brilliantly, the transformation of one man, as he moved from servant to saint. And it gives the lie -- 1,268 times over -- to the belief that one person can't make a difference. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Cheadle affects a flawless Rwandan accent and gives a performance that should shame every UN member who voted to ignore the Rwandan Tutsis' pleas. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Hotel Rwanda is a political thriller based on fact that hammers every button on the emotional console. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: The most truly inspiring movie of the year. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Move past the big picture, of race hatred, arbitrary maps and guilt over what the UN and the West can't or won't do, and find the human story within the inhumanity of war. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Not only did it give me a better-rounded perspective on the Rwandan tragedy, but it introduced me to a modern hero who stood against tyranny and oppression at the risk of losing all that was dear to him. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The film works not because the screen is filled with meaningless special effects, formless action and vast digital armies, but because Cheadle, Nolte and the filmmakers are interested in how two men choose to function in an impossible situation. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: What makes the film not just harrowing but transcendent is Cheadle. He does nothing traditionally heroic. He just presents a picture of basic decency, showing how, when combined with courage, decency can result in an awe- inspiring moral steadfastness. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It's simultaneously haunting and inspiring. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The almost forgotten but all too real African genocide documented in Hotel Rwanda hits us as suddenly and as hard as it does Paul Rusesabagina, the accidental hero played so masterfully by Don Cheadle. Read more

Time Out: There's a tidiness and sense of convenience in the film's stock characterisations and button-pushing plotting that detracts from its impact. The film doesn't just contrive to contain the slaughter, but also its own anger. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: One of the year's most moving and powerful films, anchored by a magnificent performance by Don Cheadle. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: [A] flat, cramped staging which, combined with d.p. Robert Fraisse's harsh overlighting, gives the film the feel of a cheap backlot production, even though it was shot on location. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: It's a gut-twisting story handled, largely and predictably, with asbestos mitts. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: [The movie] sweeps over you with blunt, unequivocal conviction. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: The great strength of Hotel Rwanda is that it's not about superhuman heroism but simply about human decency. Read more