Ren Atkins

In 1994, following the assassination of the Hutu president, Rwanda fell into 100 days of chaos that left around 800,000 Tutsi and their sympathizers dead. This was one of the most extreme acts of genocide in history, and yet the Western world – for the most part – looked on dispassionately, and chose not to act. Hotel Rwanda explores how this could have happened, as we follow the story of Hutu hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle) and his attempts to protect his family and countrymen.

Some very abridged history lessons are woven into Hotel Rwanda, in order to better understand the plot. The distinction between Hutus and Tutsis is explained as having been developed and deepened by the country’s Belgian colonizers. The Tutsi were often considered more attractive by the Belgians – taller, lighter skin, less broad noses – and owned more cattle. This alone gave them a more elevated status that was to generate an undercurrent of discontent. Following Rwanda’s independence, the more numerous Hutus took power from the Tutsis, and each side developed violent extremist groups that circled one another with increasing tension. When the Hutu president of Rwanda and the president of Burundi were killed when their jet was shot down with missiles, Tutsi rebels were blamed, sparking a Hutu call to rid the country of the ‘Tutsi cockroaches.’

Although not openly critical of Hutu methods, Paul Rusesabagina finds himself in a situation in which he can help his Tutsi wife, neighbours, and an increasing number of refugees by turning the four star hotel he manages into a makeshift refugee camp. Ingrained hotel policy drives Paul to try to maintain the high standard of service and quality at the hotel, although the corridors are littered with sleeping bodies and his staff initially revolts against him. Throughout the ordeal, Paul considers the situation to be temporary; as he is certain that the world will see what is happening in Rwanda and step in to assist. When Paul sees some harrowing footage shot by an American journalist, Jack (Joaquin Phoenix), and expresses relief that the world will now intervene, Jack offers a chillingly truthful reply: “I think if people see this footage they'll say, ‘oh my God that's horrible,’ and then go on eating their dinners.” Paul sees the truth in this comment when the United States and Europe begin evacuating their own nationals, while leaving Rwandan nations and the ever-growing number of Tutsi orphans behind.

While Hotel Rwanda does tend towards emotionally provocative scenes, this can’t be considered a fault when the subject matter and purpose are taken into account. The sight of children’s bodies littering the ground, or of Westerners preparing to leave while those at risk are forced to stay behind, are confronting, but could not possibly be labeled manipulative; because these events took place while the decision-makers in the rest of the world shrugged and turned away.

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Slumdog Millionaire

February 2nd 2009 17:19

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Freida Pinto

Photo courtesy of Google. Image may be copyrighted.

When the young tea servant and former slum-dweller Jamal teeters on the brink of the biggest prize in Who Wants to be a Millionaire, questions are asked about how he came to know the answers without the benefit of an education. We journey between brutal police interrogation scenes and flashbacks in which Jamal explains the events of his chaotic young life that have provided him with the answers to each question.

The storyline sounds improbable, but the delivery of Slumdog Millionaire thrills the viewer with enough slick dialogue, captivating action, and representations of the sights, sounds and smells of India as to avoid too much contemplation on the likelihood of the premise. Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) has constructed a film that takes the audience on a visual, aural, and emotional rollercoaster ride. It is hard to remain detatched from Slumdog Millionaire; it simply reels you in with its thrills and delights.

As young children, Jamal and his brother Salim witness the destruction of their Mumbai slums in an attack fuelled by religious fervor, and after a night of violence the boys are left alone and orphaned. A combination of ingenuity, desperation, and circumstance keeps the boys together and alive, but their childhood is displaced by their mission to merely stay alive. Occasionally the children find sanctuary, such as when they are taken to an ‘orphanage’ for organised begging. But when Jamal almost has his eyes gouged out so as to earn more money, the brothers are forced to set off on their own once more. When they flee, their friend Latika falls behind, and Jamal finds that as he grows older, he can’t shake his drive to find her again. The search for Latika runs through the story, and it is this obsession that eventually leads Jamal to appear on the game show.

Dev Patel (Skins), as the adult Jamal, proves himself to be a subtle and effective medium for Jamal’s story. His fear is palpable as he sits in front of the hyena-like host of Millionaire (Anil Kapoor) while coming to the realization that his original goal has been surpassed by the increasing national interest in his ongoing winning streak. Kapoor is perfect as the slick host who is increasingly bemused by the ‘slumdog chai wallah’ who has a seemingly impossible breadth of knowledge. The children who play the young Jamal and Salim give delightful performances beyond their years and experience.

Slumdog Millionaire is a riot of colour and action, an exciting and emotionally demanding film. For an English director, falling into the pit of cliché when making a film about India’s slums was a sizable threat. But Danny Boyle has produced a film that – to this Westerner, at least – feels honest, confronting, and devoid of exploitation. And, if you stick around for the closing credits you’ll be treated to a Bollywood-style dance number.

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The Wrestler

January 26th 2009 00:58

The Wrestler (2008)
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei

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Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson (Mickey Rourke) is a wrestler twenty years past his prime. Randy’s face is a legacy to his years in pro wrestling, his body is too old and punished to take the steroids he injects, he wears a hearing aid, and he finds it hard to pay the rent on his trailer with his shelf-packing day job. This could have been the story of a man defeated by age and the fading of success, but The Wrestler goes much further than that.

Randy might no longer have the big crowds, big money, and the trappings that go hand-in-hand with fame, yet he is adored by the neighborhood kids and still a hero to both the old guard and up-and-coming wrestlers. He still cuts an intimidating figure in the ring, and still retains the right to overcome his opponents with the prearranged ‘Ram Jam’ move for which he became famous.

The Wrestler has a more mainstream feel to it that some of director Darren Aronofsky’s previous films (Pi, Requiem for a Dream), yet still has a whiff of arthouse – whatever the term means these days. The storyline is not complex, but morality is not handed to the audience on a platter, predigested. The script is for the most part honest and believable, in turns humorous and mildly depressing, but the real accomplishment in The Wrestler is the casting.

Mickey Rourke does not play Randy Robinson. Mickey Rourke is Randy Robinson. He slips into this character like a pair of old jeans, and it could be postulated that Rourke has a raft of personal experience to draw on for a character such as The Ram. Marisa Tomei is equally perfect playing stripper Cassidy, to whom Randy feels a connection – despite her best interests to distance herself from customers. While near perfect, one weak link does exist in the film: Randy’s estranged daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood) is not a well-developed character, and her scenes therefore come off as slightly contrived and unnecessary. There is an infrequent but disconcerting slide towards the saccharine in The Wrestler, but this does not harm the overall success of the film.

The Wrestler is a film about all that is real, and all that is fake. Randy Robinson – whose real name, Robin Ramzinski, he can’t bear to hear – is a work of art in fakery. His hair is bleached, his tan is fake, and his wrestling matches are – of course – prearranged and melodramatic. Likewise, Cassidy has created a fake image of herself, worn to protect the stripper from the unsettling divide between her life as a suburban mom and her unclothed stage persona. But while appearances may indicate fakery, the characters and the ups and downs of their lives are very real. Even the blood that flows down Randy’s face when he fakes an injury is his blood; a real injury from a fake cause.

Despite its well-delivered occasional humour, The Wrestler is not a movie that will leave you feeling jovial. But I guarantee it will make you think a little bit about the choices we make, the connections we have with others, and the merit of following our dreams at the expense of excluding everything else.

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