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Post by drusiph on Feb 1, 2005 21:39:39 GMT -5
i am really looking forward to this. i have heard nothing but amazing things about this movie. should be very moving.
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Post by hazyday on Feb 2, 2005 16:31:17 GMT -5
tell us more about it
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Post by mirakell on Feb 2, 2005 18:40:24 GMT -5
Ten years ago some of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind took place in the country of Rwanda--and in an era of high-speed communication and round the clock news, the events went almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. In only three months, one million people were brutally murdered. In the face of these unspeakable actions, inspired by his love for his family, an ordinary man summons extraordinary courage to save the lives of over a thousand helpless refugees, by granting them shelter in the hotel he manages
I'd like to see it too.....that genocide fascinates me a little.....not in a morbid way.....but how it could happen on such a large scale in such a short period of time etc.
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Post by hazyday on Feb 2, 2005 18:49:41 GMT -5
I'm not trying to be ignorant but I don't think I could actually watch it.
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Post by mirakell on Feb 2, 2005 18:53:22 GMT -5
I'm not trying to be ignorant but I don't think I could actually watch it. :gossip: it's been described as 'this year's Schindler's List' |
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Post by iAndrea on Feb 2, 2005 20:05:38 GMT -5
aah so i thought it was an old movie for some reason
well isn't it great that those atrocities are now public and will get the deserved attention
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Post by drusiph on Feb 2, 2005 20:48:45 GMT -5
it was really good. not quite as good as people have made it out to be. it is pg13, so most of the violence is not seen, but it is felt in the atmosphere of the movie. brutal, but not graphic so to speak.
the majority of the genocide takes place over a few days (not according to the movie, but according to things i have read about this). the majority are killed in like 3 days apparently. like 800,000 or something. and, here's the gut wrenching part, not with gas chambers, not with bullets, not with mass fires or anything remotely considered "humane" but with MACHETES! so it wasn't detached like the Nazis or Bolsheviks, this was very personal. they were killing their neighbors and kids and nuns and anyone that wasn't "hutu" (which is a manufactured "ethnic" group designed by the Belgium during imperialism - how to be a "hutu" according to the Belgium one may ask - by the width of these people's noses - yeah, that is how).
this movie is very hard to take in if you are a sympathetic person. however, if you are an apathetic person, it will not amount to much other than "man, that sucks".
edit: sorry, i said "empathy" instead of "apathy".
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Post by T.C. on Feb 2, 2005 21:36:22 GMT -5
aside from historical, political and public awareness value of the movie, I'm curious... how was Don Cheadle in the lead role? I personally love his work... I think he's been as underrated as Paul G. from Sideways... there so many of these 'secondary' actors in Hollywood who deserve waaaaaaay more recognition than the machine allows.
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Post by drusiph on Feb 2, 2005 22:40:59 GMT -5
i gotta say, just as he was in the rat pack, traffic and all his movies, he was amazing. yes, he is extremely underrated as an actor. nick nolte was great too. there was some not so good acting in it, but that applies to all movies. there was some "fakeness" going on in a couple of the brutal scenes (which there actually isn't many of).
right now, i am in a class that is dedicated solely to "totalitarianism" (we're reading the "origins of totalitarianism" by hannah arendy). this is not a big topic with me as i don't like political or social reading (i like what some would call "die hard philosophy" so to speak). this was not totalitarian however. i guess you could call it sub-totalitarian. it is not actually "racism" or "classism". it is a manufactured "difference" between these people. there is no real difference between them at all. not even superficially. they were arbitrarily singled out by the Belgium people to be two "ethnic" peoples.
the worst part, as expressed by j. phoenix's character) is the "shamefulness" of the "whites". nothing would have happened if the UN would have just stayed there. but the UN actually pulled all the troops and white people out of there. it left them at the mercy of the killers. they would not attack the white people or even attack if they were there, but the UN forces them out. phoenix's character is completely ashamed of how this is done. at this point in the movie, i was ready to blow my own d**n head off just for being white. when nick nolte "explains" to don cheadle "why" the UN, US, UK, and France will not help, i wanted to die. he says:
nn-"you're dirt. everything you are is dirt."
dc-"to who?"
nn-"to who? to me. to the US. to the 'west'."
dc-"but i don't understand."
nn-"you're not even good enough to be a black person. you're black, and even worse, you're an african."
of course, NN isn't being mean to DC at this point. he is not trying to degrade him. he is trying to express to him why no one cares. NN actually does everything he can to help. but at this conversation, i was about to f**king slit my wrists. they (no, let me rephrase that) WE JUST f**kING LEFT! WE DIDN'T EVEN TRY! we didn't have to "take sides". we could have just stopped the f**king massacre. but, as NN said, we don't care, and the sad f**king thing is most people don't.
i wonder sometimes if i have made a good decision to pursue the direction of philosophy that i have. then i see politicians doing the things they do, and i know i can't have part in that. not even if that part is in opposition to their actions. there is a french poet (can't remember his name right now) but he said something very powerful once that i read. he said that "unless philosophy and poetry regain their non-violent power", there is no hope. martin heidegger (famous philosopher that will one day be part of the "holy fathers" of philosophy along with aristotle and plato) said "only a god can save us now". his view is a bit more pessimistic than the poets of course. when heidegger was asked "but we don't want to hear that "only a god can save us now". we want/need help from the philosophers. why can't you help us?" heidegger replied, "i cannot help you." i cried all night when i read that. i did. i admit that openly. because i think he is right. only a god can save us. this movie reinforces that for me. even if "mankind" continues into the future, our "souls" are gone. we are like the "mass" version of the dying acrobat in "thus spake zarathustra", our souls are dead and have been dead, we are just waiting for the death of our bodies.
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Post by hazyday on Feb 3, 2005 0:52:37 GMT -5
 it's been described as 'this year's Schindler's List' Oh God, I didn't sleep for THREE DAYS after watching that movie, I cried forever |
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