Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by townsend on January 09, 2005 at 18:41:09

This just opened in Dallas/Ft Worth--I'm sure the film buffs who read & post on this board are already familiar with it.

A great movie. Don Cheadle should be nominated for an Oscar (though I think Jamie Foxx's Ray Charles should win).

Hotel Rwanda shows what film can be--entertaining AND significant/informative.

Many would like to think that after the holocaust, genocide would fall under the "never again" banner, but there are plenty of places where ethnic/tribal hatred runs deep, and genocide rears its ugly head, as in Rwanda in 1994.

The movie is PG-13, and the only way to have obtained that rating is to exercise caution about what is shown. The movie is still effective, but we movie goers have no idea how grissly the machete hackings were (the brief clips in the Frontline broadcast on PBS several years ago were bone chilling . . .).

The parallels to Schindler's List are remote but striking--in both movies, men risk their own lives in savings other from genocidal extermination).

Nick Nolte is excellent as commander of the U.N. peace keeping force--I've enjoyed Nick over the years (esp. Who'll Stop The Rain?, The Thin Red Line)--I'm afraid his movie career is winding down . . . pity, he'll be missed.

all the best, townsend