We mark the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide this year. Despite warnings of imminent violence made by Canadian General Roméo Dallaire, the head of the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda, the world failed to act and some 800,000 people were murdered within 100 days in 1994. President Bill Clinton later reflected on the U.S. government’s failure to respond: “If we’d gone in sooner, I believe we could have saved at least a third of the lives that were lost... it had an enduring impact on me.”As long as genocide remains a threat, we must continue to ask ourselves about the consequences of action—and of inaction. That is how we strive to fulfill the promise of Never Again. Please post your thoughts about the film we watched in class. PERIOD 6 WILL POST COMMENTS ON MONDAY.
33 comments:
I was not in class on friday for this assignment.
I was absent for this assignment.
I think that this film wants to show the world what is going on in Rwanda, and that it is a huge problem. Many people do not know about this genocide, and are focused on issues on their own. I think it is sad that many people are oblivious to this problem, and feel as though more private companies/people/organizations should contribute. I don’t know how much the government should contributes, but I know that they should definitely be more aware of what’s going on. This film has probably been the most powerful film that I have ever watched, and has taught me a lot. It has taught me to feel more fortunate about what I have in my life, and to feel more grateful what I can easily get. I don’t think I will ever know exactly what it feels like to be almost killed unless I am put in the same situation that is in Rwanda. I have more appreciation to the people who try to prevent is, and help others out by putting their lives on the line and away from their families.
I understand that countries might be reluctant to send help if it is a risk for their soldiers or just too costly. But I don’t get how they could watch 800,000 innocent people be hacked to death by people from their own country. That’s like if everyone in Westborough died 44 times before the end of summer. The Rwandan genocide was especially tragic and violent. I think that the depth of hate between people was really clear when they started dehumanizing each other and disposing of the bodies like trash. I think that help from other countries was necessary and that it would have made a bigger difference in saving lives the sooner they acted. “Never Again” aims to prevent horrors like this from happening again by making people aware of their actions and consequences. It is also important that others understand their duty to help other humans. I think it’s really sad how a person could even be ok with this and it just shows the hunger in human nature to be the best.
This film was, in my opinion one of the most impactful I have ever watched or seen in this class. I did not know much about the Rwandan genocide before watching this film, but now I think I have a pretty good understanding of the horrors that occured, and the lack of support given to it's victims. It was even more powerful to me that it was based on a true story. This movie moved me because they seemed to really highlight the gruesome truths of what occured in Rwanda, instead of covering it up. I think it is amazing and important that this movie is out there for public eyes because people need to know about it. It's unbelievable to me that the genocide as extensive as it was, almost a million people hacked to death, would be so untouched by any of the outside governments. People all around thw world could witness the situation going on from their television at home, yet nothing was done. It was hard to watch people struggle to survive day after day in the movie, when in reality if European countries or the United States had intervened, so many lives could have been saved. I also noticed, as we talked about in class that the genocide that occured in Germany had similar numbers to the Rwandan genocide, yet other countries went to their aid and they had the obedient Nazi's to deal with rather than the somewhat unorganized Hutu. I guess you can argue that the countries went to war with Germany not because of the genocide but over territory in the casenof England and France or because of Pearl Harbor for the United States. Eventhough these countries knew about the genocide long before going into World War II, it was not their main objective. Therefore I think that in regards to intervening when a genocide is occurring, it's usually based on what that coune will get out of it, rather than doing the right thing. I think people are scared of genocide, so the governments try to ignore them in a way, thinking that it's not their problem, and it's nothing to start a war over. Obviously some other advances need to be taken in the event of a genocide, but it's a tough call to make, but it's even worse feeling the regret of not doing something to save almost a million lives when the government of a country knew they could have.
The first time I saw hotel Rwanda I was blown away because I honestly had never known that there had been any kind of genocide in the first place. I couldn't believe that they would just kill each other in the streets with machetes. I really admired what Paul did for all of the refugees that he guarded at the hotel, because he could have easily abandoned them because he was a Hutu so he was not going to be targeted. Instead he put himself at great risk and saved over 1000 people from being murdered. I really hope nothing like this happens again and if it does I hope that the US will intervene much earlier as to prevent from more people being killed.
Before watching the film I had heard of the Rwandan genocide and the casualty rates, but I didn't know that much detail about it, especially how senselessly violent it was and how the Rwandans were cruelly and selfishly deprived of much needed aid or intervention from other nations. The genocide is an outcry against the dangers of inaction on the international scale, and its poignant that President Clinton himself admits that he believes earlier intervention on the part of U.S. could have saved at least one third of the victims and it is an instance of inaction which has "had an enduring impact" on him. But that's now, back then the government took a deliberately vague stance on the whole thing, they even diluted its impact by avoiding labeling it an outright genocide (which we saw in Hotel Rwanda when they listened to the radio and heard them discussing "acts of genocide"). The evidence is decisive that the U.S. and even other nations had up to date and detailed information about the situation, which means that at the time they deliberately decided to not intervene in 1994 when they knew the truth about the situation. It's almost absurd when you consider that so many died because other nations decided not to help when they were in the perfect position to. But it happened, and like the journalist said people saw the footage and said "Oh, that's horrible" and then went back to eating their dinners. Hotel Rwanda is a film that fully embodies the idea of acting and not being a bystander, it makes the viewer horrified at the consequences of the inaction and the dangers of thinking like a politician or businessman instead of a human. Paul was one of the few who did act, his unrelenting pressure persuaded others to act with him, and because of that over 1,000 lives were saved including those of his family.
I found the film Hotel Rwanda to be incredibly captivating and moving. I have seen it once before, but I have a newfound appreciation for it after watching it as part of this course. I admit that if not for this movie, I would know very little, if anything at all, about the Rwandan genocide. Genocide is a terrible part of the world we live in, and most people are barely even aware of it. I think that far too often we are blind to things going on in the world around us because they do not directly affect us. It is very easy to ignore these things, purposely or subconsciously, so I understand why other countries simply stood by while hundreds of thousands of Rwandans were murdered. However, this is no excuse. I think that Hotel Rwanda does a good job of portraying the idea that these things do not have to happen. They can be stopped and even prevented if we all refuse to be bystanders.
I have seen the film "Hotel Rwanda" multiple times before, and each time I watch it, it still has an impact on me. The violence and cruelty of the Rwandan genocide was not well known throughout the world, and this film shows how terrible the genocide was, and the ignorance of other countries in their refusal to send aid. It is so difficult to watch this film and see the horrors of the genocide, knowing that the United States did nothing to help. I do not understand how other countries could sit and watch thousands of innocent people be brutally murdered, and not even acknowledge that it was happening. This film does a good job of showing the truth about the genocide, and the lack of support from outside countries. It was inspiring to see what Paul did to help so many people. He risked his own life to save thousands of people and stood up to the Hutu's, which is truly inspiring. While the rest of the world sat as bystanders Paul took action and did what he could; if only others, such as the United States government, had been as brave and selfless as Paul many more people would have been saved from this horrible genocide. This film shows how even one person standing up can make a difference, and why being a bystander can have serious consequences.
I have now seen this movie twice, and both times it was unbelievable. It is unbelievable that in the 1990s our entire world would turn its back and allow one million people to be killed by machetes. The worst part is that today, not knowing of these atrocities is no longer an excuse, we know they occur, we hear about them, and we all choose to do nothing. It seems like this will be repeated time and time again and we will never learn or care to stop it. I am however glad we watched this movie, and it is one of the reasons why this course is so amazing and important, hopefully it can motivate us to take action.
I hadn't known much about the Rwandan genocide before watching this movie, but now that I have seen it, I won’t be able to forget the horrible and brutal things that have happened to the Rwandan people during that time. One thing that stuck with me was when Paul was driving on the street and it suddenly became bumpy, so he got out of the car only to see thousands of dead bodies on the ground. Not only was the mass murder of all those people was disgusting and horrible to see, but it was also horrendous to see that they were just thrown there on the ground. I can’t believe that 800,000 people were murdered within 100 days and no help was sent from any country to help them. Even Bill Clinton had later said If we’d gone in sooner, I believe we could have saved at least a third of the lives that were lost... it had an enduring impact on me.” The US didn’t go in to save lives because they weren't sure how it could help them. The US didn't help the Jews when they wanted to enter the country, it wasn't till many of them were killed that the US intervened. The movie’s theme was to stand up and not be a bystander like Paul had done. He fought to save his family and the refugees with him even though he didn't have to.
Before this film I was completely unaware of the Rwanda genocide. This film opened my eyes to differnt genocides besides the holcaust. The most surprising this I learned throughout this film is that there are 8 set steps to a genocide. What suprised me even more was that a genocide can be stopped at ANY one of these steps. It's amazing to me that entire country's can turn there backs on 800,000 people in desperate need. I think that Paul was incredibly brave I don't know if I would be able to do what he did if I was put in that position. I would like to be more involved with the Rwanda Project at the school I'm trying to get as involved as possible. The petty things I stress about are nothing compared to what some people are going through. And the fact that this same thing is happening again in the world and we are standing by again is beyond me.
While watching the movie "Hotel Rwanda" I couldn't help but feel sick knowing that it was only 20 years ago that WE did nothing to help these people. They are PEOPLE, and we did absolutely nothing to save their lives. 800,000 isn't a small number. That is insane to think that a mass genocide was thrown to the side as if it wasn't really going on, as if other countries thought that you could just "sweep it under the rug". I pray to God that one day people will be good, and everyone will care about the well being of others. Paul, the hotel manager, showed how amazing of a person he really was, when he let his family leave without him, so he could save more people that were still going to be at the hotel, because he knew that without him, they would have died. It should how selfless he was. That amazed me.
I think the main point of the film was to show the horror that went on in Rwanda and how the UN, US, and many other European countries did absolutely nothing while they were aware of the genocide. The same thing is going on in Syria at the moment. In addition, I think that the film shows to what extent propaganda can infiltrate the minds of human beings, and how it can convince them to do horrible things. A naive person can look and assume that every single one of the Huutu's was evil, which is true in some respects, but the reality of the whole Rwanda Genocide was that many good Huutu men participated in the slaughter. Moreover, this idea extends to Nazi Germany with dealing with concentration camps. Unfortunately ignorance can lead to these horrific things occurring. I thought the most interesting part of the film was when Paul went to seek supplies from the Huutu rebel leader. The rebel leader said something like, "I'll give you a free crate of drinks, for the kids." This shows the kind side of the rebel leader, but it's ironic because this guy was the pinnacle of the whole genocide.
After watching Hotel Rwanda I thought to myself how the world could just turn its back on 800,000 innocent people. The entire world looked away even though they knew what was going on there, they let the 800,000 people from Rwanda die for no reason. Countries that could have ended the fighting in days let it go on and let hundreds of thousands people die by being cut into pieces. Not only was I shocked how many people died in this genocide, I was also shocked by how long it actually lasted/how quickly 800,000.people were murdered. Not only did the world no do anything when the killing was going on, they had seen the signs of a genocide before and they knew that this was turning into one and chose not to stop it.
I think the objective of the film was to show people watching it that its never okay to let people feel indifferent to respecting human life to the point where they deem it necessary to make a killing out of one person because of their feelings and differences from that person. I also think the film's objective was to make the viewer learn that its extremely necessary to commit to preserving everything of which humans have made such as their property, their families, and their daily life style and not destroying it without a single thought about the horrendous and evil impact they are going to input into the world by their irreversible decisions. I thought the main character of the film captured what it is like to feel fear in a situation that you know you can't fully control the outcome of by yourself in when the situation is too much to handle. For example, in the scene where the main character and his friend are driving near the river at night and the main character panics when he sees a lot of dead people lying in the road, he urges his friend not to tell anyone what he had seen when they get back to the Hotel he runs during the genocide in 1994. The main character couldn't handle what he saw so he told his friend not to tell anyone, as a way of kind of getting off his chest how frightened and shocked he felt when he saw the dead people lying in the street, which had ultimately traumatized him greatly and impacted his life negatively. After watching this film, I have to say that even though we as humans have differences one another, we are all human and we should not let our differences change how we feel about each other.
Upon watching the film “Hotel Rwanda”, it became clear how much I did not know about this tragic event in history. I found it shocking to learn that about 800,000 men, women, and children lost their lives in tragic and horrible ways. It was also stunning to me that this event was so recent in history, only twenty years ago. Countries’ lack of involvement in the event is appalling, as the small sacrifice of involvement could have saved so many lives. It was very interesting to see the real story of Hotel Rwanda, as it gave a first-hand account which I had never had access to of the hotel manager, Paul Rusesabagina. This film had a very large impact on me as it is a real, recent account of the slaughtering in Rwanda and the fight for a family to stay together and alive as well as to protect other innocent people. For the future I hope that humans can learn from the mistake of allowing this tragedy to occur without aiding the innocent people, and hopefully stand of for all people on this earth against injustice in the future.
Before watching this film, I did not know much about the Rwandan Genocide other then the fact that 800,000 people were killed. Watching this film I learned how tragic this event truly was due to the way the people died and the reason for it. I found it fascinating that no other country felt the need to get involved and stop this unnecessary murdering. These people deserved and still deserve help from other countries who have the ability to help them, like the U.S, because what they went through is one of the worst things a country could experience. The fact that the U.S. took so long to get involved truly disappointed me because we are known to always take action when another country needs help and not stand back and be bystanders.
I was truly captivated by the film Hotel Rwanda. The story was incredibly gripping, especially since I had little to no prior knowledge regarding the genocide. I think the thing that bothered me the most about this is that it happened not that long ago. It just goes to show that genocide and hatred of another ethnic group did not stop with Hitler, though we like to think we would never let something like that happen again. Which leads me to another thought: where was the external support??? I do not understand why not a single country, not even the United States, offered much help at all, even though we like to think we are the peace-keeping body if the world. Millions of Tutsi were literally being slaughtered, and they had no one to help them. Unbelievable.
Although I found the movie Hotel Rwanda to be extremely disturbing and sad, I am glad I had the opportunity to watch it in class because it was so eye-opening. I hate to admit this, but before we started studying the genocide in Rwanda I honestly had no clue that in 1994 800,000 people in Rwanda were slaughtered. I find it absolutely mind boggling that the world stood by and watched as so many innocent people were killed. The world's lack of interest in the genocide is probably why so many people like me are not informed of the genocide. One of the most powerful scenes in the movie was when the UN official told the hotel manager that outside countries were not sending help because the people of Rwanda were black. This is just absolutely disgusting. Who cares what the color of their skin is, you can't just let someone be murdered because they have a different color skin than you, That is so despicable. The fact that this horrible genocide happened just one year before I was born is so amazing to me. The world must be informed of this genocide in order to keep history from repeating itself. Hopefully the world learns from this mistake and intervenes in genocides such as the one that is occurring in Syria.
This was easily the most inspiring film we have watched so far this year in my opinion. It is extremely difficult to see this happen to so many people in Rwanda, all these people were just treated like they were trash for no reason just like the Jews in Nazi Germany. I thought it was incredible what Paul did throughout the attack, he definitely saved many, many lives. It really hit me hard when he told his wife to jump from the hotel so she wasn't attacked even though that never happened. It was the fact that they even could have been in that situation which is outrageous. 800,000 is the estimate number of people who were killed which is devastating,
Hotel Rwanda was an extremely influential story and also absolutely ridiculous that a country could turn on each other this fast and take out 800,000 Rwandans. This genocide relates to Nazi Germany in the sense that lives were taken out of nowhere for no reason what so ever. Paul is an amazing character because of what he did for so many people, he helped so many people stay alive in his hotel and actually saved his owns family's life. Once the genocide takes place the only way to stop it was to take out the people causing the genocide.
The film Hotel Rwanda was one of the most influential, inspiring films that we have watched but again I believe that it is ridiculous that 800,000 people were killed. How could a country turn on itself so quickly and decide to dump all the dead body's in holes in the ground. When Paul went out with the hotel employee and saw all the body's that's when it really hit hard. I thought it was incredible though what Paul did for all of the refugees to keep them in his hotel and mainly keep them alive. This story was definitely the most powerful film so far.
The film Hotel Rwanda was one of the most influential, inspiring films that we have watched but again I believe that it is ridiculous that 800,000 people were killed. How could a country turn on itself so quickly and decide to dump all the dead body's in holes in the ground. When Paul went out with the hotel employee and saw all the body's that's when it really hit hard. I thought it was incredible though what Paul did for all of the refugees to keep them in his hotel and mainly keep them alive. This story was definitely the most powerful film so far.
Hotel Rwanda was a very disturbing movie. Seeing people treat eachhother like that really got me thinking about human nature and the values people have for eachhother. Even if one groups beliefs may be completely different from your groups beliefs doesn't give you the right to try and kill off there group. It was shocking to see people getting chopped up over having different beliefs of another group. If someone doesn't share the same beliefs just leave them alone and let them practice what they believe. It relates directly with Nazi Germany and what is going on with Syria today .
Hotel Rwanda was a very disturbing movie. Seeing people treat eachhother like that really got me thinking about human nature and the values people have for eachhother. Even if one groups beliefs may be completely different from your groups beliefs doesn't give you the right to try and kill off there group. It was shocking to see people getting chopped up over having different beliefs of another group. If someone doesn't share the same beliefs just leave them alone and let them practice what they believe. It relates directly with Nazi Germany and what is going on with Syria today .
Hotel Rwanda was a very disturbing movie. Seeing people treat eachhother like that really got me thinking about human nature and the values people have for eachhother. Even if one groups beliefs may be completely different from your groups beliefs doesn't give you the right to try and kill off there group. It was shocking to see people getting chopped up over having different beliefs of another group. If someone doesn't share the same beliefs just leave them alone and let them practice what they believe. It relates directly with Nazi Germany and what is going on with Syria today.
I think that this film was flat out incredible, but itwas also very disgusting in the fact that a country turned on itself and it left 800,000 people to die and to be put in holes in the ground like garbage. I thought it was truly amazing what Paul did to house so many refugees and other people in his hotel, not to give them saftey to keep them from being killed. When Paul and a hotel employee drove out and they saw all the body's early in the morning that is when it hit hard and i thought it was outragoues. Again like Nazi Germany so many people are being killed for absolutly no reason.
Although I had seen this film freshman year, I am still shocked at the number of deaths that resulted from the genocide in Rwanda. 800,000 people were left dead after these killings which disgusted me. These people were prejudice against the Tutsi's, also known as the rebels, and even went to the extent of equating them to vermin. I was shocked when the general was asked if he really thought they could kill ALL the Tutsi's and his response was "why not?". The ignorance of these people was appalling to me. After this film I was inspired by Paul and his bravery. He not only stood up to the soldiers but he sheltered countless refugees. Paul was not a bystander and not only saved his family but refused to let others suffer which I found admirable.
I feel this movie was an eye opener to those people that were born after this event. It truly is sickening to see that outside countries would ignore such genocidal acts and just standby and watch as the innocent are butchered like animals. This is eeriely similar to those acts commited in the Holocaust. The fact that a group comes to power and dehumanizes another group of people they don't view as humans. This is referenced in the 8 steps of genocide. Then led to the extermination of 800,000 Rwandans.
This was not my first time watching "Hotel Rwanada" but i found that this time, it touched me more so than during the previous times i have seen it. More than anything, i was filled with feelings of frustration that the Rwanadans were left without help. It seems absurd that despite the conditions faced by the people of Rwanda, no one stepped in to help, yet this still goes on today, in Syria for example, and that deeply upsets me.
the film that we watched in class was very interesting for me. To see the views of different people living in Rwanda at the time was important to see. The movie did a good job at portraying the events that took place in Rwanda at the time of the mass genocide. Even though surrounding countries including the US knew about the events that were taking place, next to nothing was done to help the people. To know that there have been millions of people sitting by and watching innocent men, women, and children die horrific deaths, is gut wrenching to me. When the UN general told Paul that no one was going to give them protection he said it was because the was African. He states that Paul "isn't even a nigger". This statement shows just how prejudice people still are today. Helping to prevent these mass murders should be someting that every country and every individual should strive to do. If everyone is able to put aside differences, these tragic events would never be allowed to take place. Instead, we are too worried about the safty of "our people" and refuse to help those who are being targeted and that are in real danger.
I was truly shocked by this film. The brutality that was depicted in the film was just heartbreaking. Men Women and children were just slaughtered by other human being and most of them just watched this happen. Americans and the French just stood by and watched this massacre happen while they wished they could have done something about it but didn't. I do admire Paul though because he was willing to sacrifice himself for all the refugees that were staying at the hotel. His courage and breaveness isn't seen around much these days but it should.
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