Left to Tell by Immaculée Ilibagiza and Hotel Rwanda Directed by Terri George

996 Words2 Pages

While the book “Left to Tell” by Immaculée Ilibagiza and the movie “Hotel Rwanda” by Terry George shows its share of similarities, both portray the Rwandan Massacre of 1994 in diversified ways. First, while both characters share similarities portraying the perspective of the genocide, they also show some major differences in the point of view as the main character in the movie was a hotel manager while the other main character from the book was a young, Tutsi woman. Also, while they face similar conflicts and hardships, both have their own personal field of adversities to face. To start with, the movie and the book show a plethora of differences conveying the perspective of the genocide. First, while ethnic bloodlines were mixed in the country, Immaculée was a Tutsi girl that was raised in her parents’ love, which originally blinded her from the negativity of racism and prejudice. This was proven when Immaculée stated “…In our home, racism and prejudice were completely unknown”. Paul Rusesbagina on the other hand was a hotel manager and a successful businessman, not to mention he was of Hutu origin. Also the movie focuses primarily on him and his family while conveying the genocide from the events that were most relevant to the storyline. This is proven in the movie as he was one of the first and reoccurring characters we see within the conflicts throughout the movie from when Paul stated “…I’m sure you can take some money for your hard work”, to the Hutu commander when he was first asked for identification and within several other instances throughout the movie. In short, because the purpose of the film was to entertain the audience, the two hour movie cannot convey with detail the slaughter of 800,000 to 1,000,000 Tut... ... middle of paper ... ...val. It is also worth noting the strong evidence of psychological difficulties that they both faced within the struggles of survival and how it was accomplished. In the book and in the movie, many aspects showed major similarities and differences. This includes the similarities and differences in location, perspective of the conflict, perspective in conveying the horrors of the genocide, and comparisons in personal conflicts that both characters went through. While the movie made a great attempt to convey the massacre, the book was written in a more common reality from an actual survivor of the genocide compared to the movie, which used actors and centered the events more on Paul as to entertain the audience. The book held a personal account which separates it from the movie, but blends in with some main ideas and messages that the movie tried to express.

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