In April 1994, when President of Rwanda Juvénal Habyarimana (a Hutu) was returning to his country after having signed a peace agreement between his government and the Rwandese Patriotic Front (Tutsis), a rocket pierced his plane causing it to burst into flames and crash. The murder ignited one of the most horrendous genocides the world has ever witnessed, carried out by militias called the interherahamwe (literally "we fight together") made up of extremists from the Hutu tribes. The Hutus are the largest ethnic group in Rwanda and were at the time of the genocide under direct protection of the Rwandese army, which was dominated by Hutus as well.

The genocide claimed almost a million lives from among the minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus, who were systematically slaughtered with machetes and swords, in what was clearly an ethnic cleansing. The cause should primarily be sought in ignorance and tribal fanaticism ignited by a colonial power struggle between France, Britain, and the United States over their vested interests and influence in this important country in the Nile Basin. The struggle is an example of a Western power struggle carried out on sub-Saharan African soil by agents — armed, ethnically based militias backed by the colonialists.

However, of all the films dealing with the Rwandan genocide, Hotel Rwanda, by Northern Irish director Terry George, is certainly the best. The film narrates a true story that unfolded during the genocide and also exposes, without reservations, the way the West allowed it to happen.

Oddly, this powerful film, which utilizes advanced filming technology to convey the grotesque killing and destruction wreaked by the interahamwe, was very unpopular with the Arab public.

The movie theater where I viewed the film is made for 500 people. Yet there were no more than three individuals there to watch the film, despite the fact that it had been described by reviewers as an action film, a genre the Egyptian public is usually fond of.

The film tells the true story of Paul Rusesabagina, the manager of Hotel de Mille Collines in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. Paul is a Hutu and is married to a Tutsi woman. American actor Don Cheadle takes on the role of Rusesabagina, who saves the lives of 1,268 people, most of them Tutsis, by protecting them from the Hutu militias. He permits the Tutsis to stay at his hotel, which is normally occupied by European tourists and diplomats, and does whatever he can to protect his Tutsi guests from mass slaughter until foreign forces interfere —including bribing the leader of the Rwandan army and strengthening his relationship with the authorities inside Rwanda and abroad.

The film presents strong statements made by those responsible for the UN forces in Rwanda that protected the hotel, about the silence of the West while the massacres were going on and its refusal to interfere. For example, we see the commander of the UN forces (played by Nick Nolte) pour his venom on France, Britain, and the United States, who had the ability to stop the slaughter but refused to act.

Paul Rusesabagina and his "guests" look on as the UN forces abandon them.

The scene that most aptly exposes the reticence of the West to intervene, and thus its direct responsibility for the genocide, is when the commander of the international forces informs the manager of the hotel that, "The West, all the superpowers ... they think you're dirt, you're worthless. ... You're the smartest man here. You could own this hotel, except for one thing. You're black. You're not even a nigger. You're an African. They're not going to stop this slaughter." In the next scene we see European forces arrive and a greatly relieved Rusesabagina, who believes they have come to put an end to the slaughter. He then finds out that their orders are to merely evacuate the white Europeans. They refuse to let any African on the buses, including a British citizen working with one of the Western television teams who just happened to be black.

What truly distinguishes the film from other cinematic interpretations of the Rwandan massacre is that it exposes the French, British, American, and Belgian responsibility for the massacres. France and the Francophone nations supported the Hutu forces; whereas the American, British, and other Anglophone nations supported the Tutsis. We see in the film that the interherahamwe militias and the Rwandan army stop their attacks on the hotel after Rusesabagina calls the Belgian president and begs him to call the French president, Francois Mitterand, to use his influence on the Rwandan government in order to stop the attacks.

Furthermore, the people who sought refuge in the hotel from the massacres on the Kigali streets are saved only when the rebel Tutsi forces launch their attack on Kigali and an agreement is reached for the exchange of captives, which includes the refugees in the hotel.

The film also highlights the corrupt relationship between the leadership of the Rwandan army and the militias that were involved in financing and trade. They got rich off the war by raising the prices of goods and importing everything, including the machetes used in the genocide.

On March 30, 2005, the French newspaper Le Figaro published an interview with Rusesabagina, the manager of the hotel around which most of the film revolves. Rusesabagina said that the film shows the apathy of the international community. By writing a journal and keeping a record of his communications, he kept his memory of the genocide alive so the world would know one day what had happened. He had records of his communications with many prominent personalities and institutions, including the White House and France's presidential palace.

Rusesabagina said he spread rumors that the West would accuse the Rwandan army of committing war crimes once the massacre was over, in order to prevent the people in the hotel from becoming a target. He later also helped put pressure on the UN to fulfill its promise to bring the perpetrators to trial, which eventually led to the arrest of those responsible for the 1994 war crimes in Rwanda, and those responsible for the 1999 killing of eight foreign tourists, including two Americans.

France continued to deny that it had been involved in the genocide despite the fact that it had assisted the Hutu forces by providing them with arms and training. In fact, France only intervened when the Tutsi rebel forces began advancing inside the capital and the Hutus were already defeated.

Rusesabagina, in his interview with Le Figaro, interpreted what had happened as a result of the no-penalty policy after Rwanda had gained its independence in 1959. At this time, the Hutus began their persecution of the Tutsis, many of whom fled to neighboring countries. He also pointed out the corruption of the officials who used the radio station of Hotel Mille Collines to spread messages of racial hatred and violence. When the genocide began, to kill became a patriotic duty and the radio continually repeated the command "Kill your neighbors, the graves haven't filled up yet!"

Because of its sensitive subject matter, Hotel Rwanda received a number of awards. The screenwriters, Terry George and Keir Pearson, won the Humanitas Award for those film scripts that convey essential humanistic morals and values. The film also received the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

** Muhammad Gamal Arafat is an IslamOnline.net editor and a political analyst.