Hotel Rwanda

Hotel Rwanda

The film Hotel Rwanda explains the true story of a Hutu named Paul Rusesabagina, a man who put his own life in danger while trying to save the lives of Rwandan Tutsis, who were battling a Hutu genocide massacre against them.  While watching this movie, one line by Joaquin Phoenix a European journalist in the film stood out to me, “If people see this footage they will say oh my god this is horrible, and then continue eating their dinners.” After hearing this quote I thought to myself for a couple of minutes, because I know this is what I, and millions of others who weren’t personally going through this tragic event would say.  It is horrible to think that individuals in the world would let something like this go by so easily just because we think that it would be too hard to stop it, without even trying. 

One of the elements of narrative which stood out to me while watching was the different sizes of shots that were used to portray the event which was happening.  An example of this was the scene when it was poring rain outside, and Paul Rusesabagina was outside telling several Tutsi’s to go inside the Mille Collines hotel.  This medium size shot was very useful, as it was able to show how many individuals were involved, and affected by the Hutu genocide.  While watching this scene in particular, I felt as if I was standing in front of all of these individuals, face to face, while seeing their emotions and facial expressions.  

In addition, another element of narrative which was used in the film was film music. Several individuals say that Hotel Rwanda is a very “Hollywood” movie, because they sugar-code a lot of the events depicted in the film.  Although personally I feel that the film music took away from the “Hollywood” feel, because instead of using “Hollywood” music they used African music of children singing.  This was able to make the movie a lot more realistic, as well, it set the tone of the film.  

Hotel Rwanda is a must see movie for everyone, while it incorporates and teacher individuals about the lives that were affected by the Hutu genocide against the Tutsi in 1994.  I would absolutely give this movie an 8 out of 10.   

Godzilla

The movie Godzilla was something very different from anything I have seen before.  Initially I thought I might actually like the movie, but while watching I began to dislike it more and more! I personally don’t enjoy watching movie’s that are unrealistic from anything I would see during my life today, as well I didn’t love having to read the english subtitles at the bottom of the screen.  I do have to say that although I didn’t exactly enjoy the story line of the movie, I can understand and appreciate why it is as famous as it is. The producer Tomoyuki Tanaka and director Ishiro Honda, did a wonderful job making this film, as it was not only a worldwide hit at the time with a series of movies behind it, but a movie that was recreated years later that was just as famous.
Although this movie discussed serious Japanese problems I couldn’t help myself from laughing while watching, the acting was so exaggerated! Even though the acting was a little strange it made me understand the film more, especially because the movie was in a different language and I wasn’t always able to read the english subtitles fast enough.  Of course the monster Godzilla did an excellent job acting in this movie along with Momoko Kochi who played Emiko Yamane.  Emiko didn’t even need to use dialogue in the film, you could tell exactly how she was feeling from all of the facial expressions she made! It was very interesting to watch.
The music in this movie by Akira lfukube was a very important factor for the film.  I mention it because from the specific tone of the music and instruments played the audience was able to acknowledge when Godzilla was entering the scene.  The music was very loud, harsh, and disturbing, this was able to symbolize how all of the other individuals living in Japan were feeling at the time from this strange animal.