Hotel Rwanda
#50 in my movie challenge for the year, Hotel Rwanda was not a film I was sure I wanted to watch. Oscar nominations do not confirm a film’s merit, merely its popularity. Hotel Rwanda, about a hotel manager who shelters refugees during a time of genocide, was well-reviewed and nominated. I was concerned it would be both depressing and overdetermined. I was pleasantly surprised, though. It handles its difficult subject matters deftly, and Don Cheadle’s performance as the hotel manager is suberb. The film cannot help but be depressing, but I also found it inspiring in a non-hokey way. It pricked my conscience, and reminded me to try and be a better person and to hold the petty annoyances of my own life less tightly because I lead a very fortunate existence.