One man made a difference.

Over 3 months in 1994, nearly 1 million people were slaughtered in a terrifying genocide in the African country of Rwanda.

Some people think movies are a good medium for making people better aware of news events such as genocide.

The movie Hotel Rwanda documents the story of a man who decided to save as many people as possible, even at great risk to his own life.

Watch a trailer of this movie at the New York Times and read about the movie plot  and Rwandan history on Wikipedia pages. CNN Online reviews the movie: Standout acting performances in important film, and BBC online reports on Hotel Rwanda as well as other movies that tackle the Rwandan genocide.

Read Hotel Rwanda: Interview with Paul Rusesabagina at OutNow to find out what the real-life hero of the movie has to say about the movie that told his story, the genocide, and his life today.

What do you think?

• Paul Rusesabagina repeatedly risked his life to rescue people from genocide while the governments of many countries chose not to intervene in the Rwandan genocide. What do you think moved Paul to act in spite of great personal risk?
• Why didn't Western governments intervene to save lives in Rwanda?
• What moves any of us to act, or not act, in these kinds of situations? Why do people sometimes choose to ignore terrible things that are happening to other people and not intervene?

Comments

[Yong Jin Lee]

Governments chose to ignore the Rwandan genocide because it would have effected them very badly after they intervened. The international community should have supported and protected the Rwanda genocide, but they did not.

[Yan]

Western governments didn’t want to increase their troops, and they just evacuated their people and current armies from there. I think the reason why they didn’t intervene was that they thought Rwanda was a worthless country. They didn’t care about it and its people.

[Akira Sasaki]

If I faced a terrible situation, I wouldn't intervene, Most people hope to succeed in life without having trouble. For that, we have to chose something to bring success rather than trouble. So, nobody tries to face terrible things intentionally. This is natural behavior. We don't intervene in terrible situations where other people suffer.

[Eunjin Kim]

If they intervene in terrible things they will be menaced by the intimidator. People are afraid of injury and don't want to be hurt, so they ignore terrible things even though they don't want bad things to happen.

[Lim, Ju Hee]

The reason why people don't intervene is that they are selfish. If they intervene in terrible things, they will have to spend time and effort, but they don't want to. They might be afraid of an injury or of death. In addition, they aren't brave enough to help someone out of difficulties.

[Demba]

People usually intervene in horrible incidents even if it is a little bit risky for them.The atrocity or the seriousness of the incident often causes them to react, also they are more responsive if they witness an incident.

[Sun Ah Lim]

The western government just stood by, and did not intervene when the Rwanda genocide occurred. If they had called it genocide, they would have had to send the army to calm down the genocide. So they just called it murder to avoid the role of intervening. I think that the western governments should have acted urgently to prevent mass killings.

[Seo, Inji]

Paul loved his family and didn't want to lose them. In addition, he thought that other people were also as important as his family. But western country thought that this was not their business. If they intervened, they would have to make big sacrifices, but they didn't want to. I think when people recognize that other people need their help and their help can change a lot for these people life moves us to action.

[Sung Hwi Chung]

The western governments and United Nations had to help Rwanda, when they had genocide. but they just ignored them because they did not want to get into trouble after they intervened. In addition, they thought Rwanda was not powerful, rich country so they didn’t send troops to Rwanda

[Sujeong Hong]

The reason why Paul Rusesabagina is respected is that while he was a common man, he tried to save so many people. We know that it is hard to intervene in terrible incidents because it takes nerves and requires sacrifices. That is why Western governments gave up on intervening in the genocide.

[Mi Hye Ahn]

Paul wanted to rescue his family, and he also wanted to rescue other Rwandan people because he considered them as his family, too. He is a very altruistic person; therefore, he thinks about his personal risk. Meanwhile, the western governments thought about their risk, so they didn't intervene in the genocide. It is like people who ignore terrible things that are happening to other people. They don't want to know about terrible things that are not related to them. So, that is why people ignore these situations.

[Lee, Eun Hyun]

Even western governments didn't intervene in the Rwandan genocide, and many other people didn't want to intervene because they didn't want to fight and it was so annoying for them. They didn't worry about Rwandan people, just thought about themselves. But Paul, who was just a common man in Rwanda, intervened and saved many lives. I respect him and his bravery.