Hotel Rwanda and the concept of race

Tonight I saw a late showing of Hotel Rwanda. This excellent true-story film stars Don Cheadle as a hotel manager who sacrifices his sanity and risks his life to house almost a thousand refugees associated with the atrocities in Rwanda back in 1994. I was very impressed with the cinematography, which made it quite emotional and enabled me to become part of the story, something few films are able to do. The acting was amazing as well and also contributed to the overall realism of the film. It takes talent to take a real life human tragedy and adapt it to the screen in such a way that it emphasizes the importance of what happened in a broader context of human history.

Instead of a simple movie review, which can be found anywhere on the net, I'll reflect personally on the film and the thoughts that are running through my head immediately after seeing it. I remember when the Rwanda genocide happened but I didn't pay much attention to it, as it was just another depressing news story that dominated the headlines for a few weeks then faded away. I have seen so many such stories in my lifetime that I try not to think about what it all means, but I will try to lay it out here.

The basis of the Rwanda story has to do with political differences between two groups, the Tutsis and the Hutus. Originally, things such as nose size and other facial features distinguished them. In other words, if you looked a certain way you were a Tutsi and if you looked another way you were a Hutu. After a scene in the film that described this I was immediately struck by how pointless it was. The two looked exactly the same, one indistinguishable from the next. I then realized that it was no different than the race wars that occurred in the United States during the past century, and indeed since our country's origins. I feel that by highlighting the seemingly ludicrous and superficial differences between a Hutu and a Tutsi the writers and director of Hotel Rwanda were making a subtle statement about the nature of racism in general. Most Americans that see this film will not notice the difference between an actor who portrays a Hutu and one that portrays a Tutsi, and they will be lost on the significance of this. "They are both black Africans. They aren't different!" Needless to say, a Hutu and a Tutsi are just as different as an African American and a white American.

The concept of race has become so engrained in the consciousness of America that it has taken on a social significance, as if the color of one's skin mattered. Of course, this has been preached since the days of the Civil Rights movement, but again, I think much is lost in the simple proclamation that we are all humans first. We teach our young children that a person should be judged "not by the color of one's skin but by the content of their character" as Dr. King put it so eloquently. While this is a fair and completely correct thing to teach, I think there should be more of an emphasis placed on the absurdity of race on a biological basis. It is a sad fact of reality that we have been "trained" to even notice skin color and pass judgements on this. The truth of the matter is, skin color is just as significant as hair color. But hair color doesn't matter, you say? My point exactly.

In summation, Hotel Rwanda opened my eyes not only to the capacity for human evil but for also for our capacity to latch on to a meaningless and superficial trait such as race. To function properly in today's society, one has to be aware of the concept of race because of a sad chapter not only in American history but the world over as well.