Terry George directs Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo and Nick Nolte in this true story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager, who housed over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda.

Sturdy take on a great story. Obviously boiling down a completely different genocide to the same narrative template as Schindler’s List leaves this open to wild accusations of varnishing ugly truths. There has been kickback against modern history as presented here. Did the real Rusesabagina’s profiteer… or even disrupt UN peacekeeping efforts? If the Hollywood HeroTM version reflects anything it is that to walk such a dangerous tightrope one must anger, betray and exploit a lot of enemies and allies to survive. I’m happy to sit with the harsh reality that Rusesabagina played his game on hard mode and quite a few people have their lives because of his manipulations. In its best moments this is as thrilling as Captain Phillips.

8

Perfect Double Bill: The Promise (2017)