Wish to Inform
I saw two movies this weekend. The French film Cache (Hidden) is, I guess, a mystery -- "psychological mystery" would be the apt, if overused, term. It's the story of a family terrorized by an unseen videographer's documentation of their daily comings and goings -- and of a disturbing childhood secret at the root of events. There's one unexpected scene of shocking violence that's completely germane to the story. The ending is a mystery in the truest sense -- it evolved in my mind from a frustrating, unwelcome puzzlement to a haunting question with a variety of possible answers. I've never seen an ending quite like it; it was brilliant, but it took me about 12 hours to come to that conclusion.
I also saw Hotel Rwanda on DVD. More understated than I expected, and all the more powerful for it. I hate to admit it, but I feel as though I learned a lot about the Hutu-Tutsi conflict and resulting genocide that I hadn't completely absorbed when it happened. And yet I know that the movie portrayed -- albeit with great power and emotion -- just the most basic and easily digestible outline of facts.
I kept thinking, "That happened in 1994 -- okay, yeah, I remember where I was working and where I was living. I remember hearing about the Hutus and Tutsis on NPR. Why didn't I absorb it?"
Seems so shallow and banal to even pose the question, let alone contemplate the answer.
That, of course, is a big point of the movie. Virtually no one outside of Rwanda (or even in the case of fleeing foreigners in Rwanda) absorbed it in any way that might have helped the country. Now I want to read the book with one of the best titles ever, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch. One of the stories the book tells is that of Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager who is the hero of the movie, played by Don Cheadle.
Sometimes I wonder what's going on in the world today that I'm not completely absorbing -- Lord knows there are plenty of candidates -- that down the road I will wish I knew more about or, in retrospect, had helped do something about.
I also saw Hotel Rwanda on DVD. More understated than I expected, and all the more powerful for it. I hate to admit it, but I feel as though I learned a lot about the Hutu-Tutsi conflict and resulting genocide that I hadn't completely absorbed when it happened. And yet I know that the movie portrayed -- albeit with great power and emotion -- just the most basic and easily digestible outline of facts.
I kept thinking, "That happened in 1994 -- okay, yeah, I remember where I was working and where I was living. I remember hearing about the Hutus and Tutsis on NPR. Why didn't I absorb it?"
Seems so shallow and banal to even pose the question, let alone contemplate the answer.
That, of course, is a big point of the movie. Virtually no one outside of Rwanda (or even in the case of fleeing foreigners in Rwanda) absorbed it in any way that might have helped the country. Now I want to read the book with one of the best titles ever, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch. One of the stories the book tells is that of Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager who is the hero of the movie, played by Don Cheadle.
Sometimes I wonder what's going on in the world today that I'm not completely absorbing -- Lord knows there are plenty of candidates -- that down the road I will wish I knew more about or, in retrospect, had helped do something about.
posted by Billy at 11:55 PM
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