We can be heroes: free film and discussion

When Movies at Macquarie presents Hotel Rwanda on 16 October, viewers will be able to consider whether they would have acted nobly (like the hero) or done nothing (like the rest of the world) during the Rwandan genocide.

In 1994, a million Tutsis were butchered by their Hutu neighbours. Under Belgian colonial rule, the Tutsis ruled the Hutu. Then the Hutu got the upper hand. After the assassination of the Hutu President, murderous mobs roamed the streets cutting down every Tutsi they could find.

Hotel Rwanda tells the story of a hotel manager, Paul Rusesabagina, who sheltered and saved 1200 people. He is a Hutu married to a Tutsi. Using all the skills at his disposal, including bribery, deception and flattery, he stood against the tide of blood.

History on film

Dr Michelle Arrow, Lecturer in the Department of Modern History, will introduce the film. Arrow teaches in the History on Film unit, using films as a way of thinking about history, and considering the ways they represent past events in contrast to books.

“Does this movie present a distorted picture of Rwanda during the genocide?” she asks.

“So many people informed on their families. Teachers dobbed in their students and vice versa. There was a Hutu priest who offered people sanctuary in his church. Then he gave them up to the killers. Why not make a film about him? Or have a parallel narrative?”

Opening up discussion

Films reach mass audiences quickly, says Arrow. They dramatise, and make us feel.

“They’re a good way for students to get into the big meaty issues of historiography,” she says. “A film like Hotel Rwanda becomes the way the general public understands those events.”

The film raises big questions. How do we in the West deal with Africa? Why was the United Nations so slow to act in Rwanda, even though it was warned of impending violence?

“In the film, a Western cameraman goes out and films people being killed,” says Arrow. “Will we be moved by his pictures, or will we go back to eating our dinner? Did we put pressure on our governments and the UN at the time? Where does our responsibility begin and end? How complicit were we in the genocide?

“I hope people from other backgrounds, who may also have experienced genocide, like Cambodians and Bosnians, will come along and contribute to the discussion,” says Arrow. “How would they choose to bear witness?”

The free movie and discussion will take place in the Macquarie Theatre on Sunday 16 October, commencing at 7pm.

For further information on Movies at Macquarie, see www.pr.mq.edu.au/mqmovies/

Dr Michelle Arrow can be contacted at michelle.arrow@mq.edu.au Dr Marnie Hughes-Warrington, who convenes the History on Film unit, can be contacted at marnie.hughes-warrington@mq.edu.au The Department of Modern History website is at www.modhist.mq.edu.au

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