Posts Tagged ‘ war ’

I was only fourteen when this was happening and my memory of the media coverage is certainly not exact, but it seems like Hotel Rwanda tells us an important story of an individual trying to make a difference in the face of hatred and genocide. One decade after the massive atrocity committed in Rwanda of the Hutus against the Tutsis, Don Cheadle portrays Paul Rusesabagina, the manager of a glamorous luxury hotel which he used to shelter thousands of Tutsis against the Hutu rebels including his wife and family.

Adrien Brody stars in this Roman Polanski-directed story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, an internationally renowned Jewish pianist living in Poland during World War II and his struggle with the help of the thread-bare resources of the Jewish resistance in Poland following the Nazi invasion, to stay alive and make it through the war.

Christian Bale stars in this thriller depicting a dystopia in a future that is at least farther away than World War III in which society has decided to try to live without emotion of any kind for fear of the consequences of negative emotions. People are tranquil, but sedated, taking medications at regular intervals which almost imitate the ringing of church bells in the medieval period calling people to worship.

Having found success three years ago with Amelie Jeunet moves to this story of a romantic relationship between Mathilde (Audrey Tatou) and her lover, a soldier fighting in World War I.  A Very Long Engagement tells its story by reflecting upon the lives of five soldiers who have been caught during the war injuring themselves in order to get sent home.  The military finds out and decides to send these troops beyond the front-line to have the German soldiers kill them.