Hotel Rwanda, in my opinion, is not the best movie in showing the diversity of African culture. I am aware that the genocide between the origins of Tutsi and Hutu is based in the varying of culture, politics, traditions and beliefs. However, the horrifying violence that plays throughout the movie made me feel empty and ashamed. The lack of response and support from the UN and the U.S. was appalling to me and to see it live in a movie, made it resonate more.
However, the sense that some people may approach this movie as unbelievable only due to the fact that everyone was mostly dressed in western clothing. I, personally, think this movie is very believable because Africans, who have assimilated into the cities, do not dress in traditional dress like before. I believe that this movie shows that Africans are courageous and strong people. Despite the chaos, some people in any conflict that are willing to open up their arms to those in need. The Underground Railroad is an example that comes to mind, wherein there were several whites who did not support slavery and were instrumental in helping the freedom of slaves.
I have watched several African movies that show their people in a much more positive and educational light. Princess Trya is a great African movie that brings light to growing conflict of the clash of old traditions of Africa vs. the new more western African youth. I think that Americans often only see one view of Africa because usually only bad news reaches the mainstream media and the only movies that have had any clout at the box office are those telling some terrible conflict or war in Africa. I do think that it’s important to inform the rest of the world the inaction of the international community during the genocide in Rwanda but it would be nice to see a mixture of portrayals of African people in movies. Sarafina! is another great movie, filmed in South Africa about the apartheid, although the subject matter is rather bleak (and true), the use of song and dance would make it a great addition to this class material.
If anyone has a couple of minutes, I recommend watching a clip from "Show Me Heaven." It is a great African movie that once again challenges the traditions of old cultural norms vs western ideals. It's about 8:00min long but well worth it, if you have never seen an African movie before!
2 comments:
Hello!
Cute video, reminds me of a romance novel but with an African Twist.
Ellie
That was a fascinating video, thank you for posting it Christina! Thematically it has commonalities with romances from other areas with conflict between traditional and new - often foreign - ways (the Middle East and Asia both). But the feel and emotion was very different. Thanks for sharing! I hope I can find the whole movie to see the story around that scene.
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