Universally praised, this is a great movie based on a true story of a hotel manager that sheltered 1200 Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide of 1994, even though he himself was a Hutu, the ethnic group perpetrating the mass killings of the Tutsis (nearly one million of them) .
Besides great acting (Don Cheadle) and story line, I found myself personalizing the story in nearly every scene? Would I have sheltered the Tutsis at the risk of my own life and my family's? Would I have acted with such courage? Where do you draw the line between acting in self interest (and ones family) and leaving others behind to die? How would I have reacted to the massacres and rapes and gross injustice? Would I have instructed my wife and kids to "jump to their death" instead of being killed by machetes? How would I respond as a Christian? Would I have been as quick on my feet in facing down danger as Don Cheadle's character was?
On a different level, the film brought out the incomprehensible horror of ethnic wars and genocide, and this is far from the first one. The cruelty of humanity is without words. No wonder people question God. Where is He in all this? Yet, such barbarism and atrocities are not a case against God, but a case against man and his need for redemption.
I think of all the lives of men, women and children that were literally hacked to death in this genocide. Will all that suffering be for nought? Somehow God will use that injustice to bring true recompense as only He can, and I would not to fall into the hands of an angry God when it happens.
If you haven't seen this movie, see it. It will put something fresh in your soul.