Hotel Rwanda is based on the true story of Paul Rusesabagina (DonCheadle), portrayed as house manager of Kigali's luxurious Hotel desMilles Collines,~2 who used his position and influence to save 1,268 vic-tims3 who had sought refuge at the hotel during the Rwandan genocide.In what many rank as the most horrifying episode in African history,an estimated 800,00o people, mainly Tutsi, were massacred by theirfellow Hutu countrymen in little more than three months betweenearly April and mid July 1994. Most victims were hacked to death withmachetes, spiked clubs or farming implements. A further half a mil-lion people died as a result of disease, famine and military action whileover 2 million Hutus fled Rwanda for fear of reprisals when the invad-ing Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) took control ofthe country and its government in July 1994.4 These casualty figuresare enormous if one takes into account that the population of Rwandawas approximately 7 million at the start of the genocide and that Tutsisformed about 15 per cent or just over i million of this total .5
展开▼
