Introduction
Hotel Rwanda is a movie based on the real-life story of the Rwandese experience during the 1994 genocide that saw about 0.8 million Tutsis and Hutus lose their lives; the civil strife was between the Hutus and the Tutsis. The film mainly details how one generous man risked his own life to save his own life, his family, and about one thousand other Rwandese whose lives were at stake.
Political Ideologies of each Group
The Hutu power claimed that the Tutsis were intent on enchaining the Hutu people. The Hutu militias, therefore, vowed to resist enslavement by Tutsis by all means available to them; this ideology is exemplified by the fact that Hutus have always been ruled by the Tutsis since the times before colonization of the region. When the Belgians lost control of the region, the two parties started fighting to fill the power vacuum that remained. Besides, the assassination of the 1994 president, who belonged to ethnic Tutsi, was one of the main causes; the Hutus accused the Tutsis of having been responsible for the president’s assassination. The Tutsis never wanted to share power with the Hutus and instead wanted to possess power exclusively. For instance, the president of Rwanda at the time was a Tutsi and he clearly represented Tutsi power that the Hutus were intent on dislodging. The Tutsi minority represented the aristocracy in Rwanda.
Interest Groups in the Film
One of the interest groups is the Hutu militia that wanted to ensure that all the Tutsis are wiped out of Rwanda after which they wanted to establish Hutu power. The other interest group is the group of foreign peacekeepers led by the United Nation military representative; the peacekeepers are evacuating foreigners from Rwanda and take back to their countries of origin leaving Hutus and Tutsis as they massacre one another without any foreign intervention. The last interest group is constituted by the desperate Tutsis who are seeking help to escape the heinous killings by the radical Hutu militias. The Peacekeepers institute an interest group because they represented the international community in Rwanda.
During the genocide, foreign journalists captured the events in video cameras and used the media as the most effective technique. The films were expected to help attract the attention of the international community to the situation and subsequently respond to the distress of the Rwandan people. These techniques failed since most international communities never showed interest in getting involved in the central African affair.
Where legitimacy of the power of the character was questioned
The president belonged to the powerful Tutsi community, which has been dominating the Hutus since the 18th century. However, the legitimacy of his government is questioned when he is killed (His killing is blamed on his fellow Tutsis) and Hutus rise to power, immediately setting the scene for genocide against Tutsis. In response to the killings of the Tutsis, around 14,000 Tutsis dominated the Hutu soldiers and managed to seize power again and the genocide was brought to a stop.
Opinion on Paul’s action
Paul’s action is one of the things that no ordinary man can do, in fact, in the entire country, during the strife; no other man or woman did what he did. He is a man who is against ethnicity. Since he had enemies on both sides of the divide, he could not do more than what he did, and therefore, I would have just done the same thing.
Conclusion
The 1994 Rwandan genocide was pitted against the politically and economically powerful Tutsis. The Hutus felt they were enslaved by Tutsis hence they were intent on finishing the Tutsis’ power influence.