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For anyone who followed closely the 1994 crisis in Rwanda the highly touted film Hotel Rwanda is merely propaganda statements interrupted by bouts of acting. For example, the plane bearing the President of the country is shot down and we are shown the hotel manager hero talking with frightened refugees who tell him the radio is blaming the “rebels”. But that’s absurd says the manager,” why would they do that? The President has just signed a peace agreement with them.” That observation tells the audience that the “rebels” (the Rwandan Patriotic Front) did not do the deed and suggests it must have been the work of the Hutu extremists.

But in reality many in Rwanda would have had a ready and obvious answer for the hotel manager. Someone would have said “They did it because they want power. They invaded us in 1990 saying they were going to remove the President. And now they’ve killed him and their army is resuming the war.” No such reasonableness is permitted in this film because the story tellers want to convince us the world, especially Africa, needs more humanitarian interventionism. Watch “Hotel Rwanda” and think Darfur, is the message. For example: The character based on General Dallaire, in the film called Col Oliver, leads a convoy of UN vehicles transporting Tutsi refugees from the Hotel to “rebel” territory. They meet a roadblock of Hutu militants dressed in the garb of the “Interahamwe” saying the trucks contain their enemies. No, these are refugees says Oliver. When Interahamwes begin to board the bus Oliver jumps out and fires his pistol, the UN soldiers fire in the air and the Hutus (as restless natives in all Hollywood history) disperse in terror. A metaphor for Darfur.

Just go in there, fire a few shots, appoint an interim democratic leader who speaks American and move on. Such a scene did occur in Rwanda, but mark the difference. Dallaire was not there. The UN vehicles bearing refugees from the hotel to the RPF zone were stopped. There was a tense stand-off and discussion and then the trucks were turned around and sent back to the hotel. No shots were fired. The hotel manager’s wife and children were aboard the trucks. The misadventure ended safely on all sides, no lives were lost. A key individual in the life-saving negotiations had been brought to the scene by UN soldiers; he was George Rutaganda, a Vice-President of the Interahamwe. Rutaganda cooperated with the UN to save all those people. But in “Hotel Rwanda” Rutaganda is a designated villain, so his good deed must be wiped out and replaced with a lie. Taking one man’s courageous act and attributing it to another to advance a false story is pretty slimy stuff. Other scences in the film used false stories about Rutaganda to move the story along. Examples:

Hate radio: A character in the film says of Rutaganda that he has been on the radio calling for the killing of Tutsis. Wrong. George Rutaganda never made any such broadcasts. He made one broadcast shortly after the war and massacres began. He made the broadcast at the request of the Red Cross and he called on people to obey the law and to not interfere with the work of humanitarian agencies such as the Re Cross. No extremist calls for the murder of Tutsis.

During his trial before the UN ICTR no one even claimed Rutaganda made any hate broadcast. That did not deter the makers of “Hotel” from making it up. Machete conspiracy: The hotel manager visits businessman/Interahamwe leader Rutaganda an sees an accident in which a box of machetes breaks open. Rutaganda explains that h gets them from China for 10 cents and sells them for 50. This is supposed to show extremist pre-planning. Again false. Rutaganda did not sell machetes and had no shipment from China. The prosecution did not make such a case at trial. War profiteering. The hotel manager wants to buy beer from Rutaganda and Rutagand says he’ll have to pay extra because of the war. In fact Rutaganda supplied the beer because the manager said it was needed to keep his hotel guests alive. The manage said he had no cash and gave Rutaganda a check.

Rutaganda didn’t have to take the check. He had plenty of business. If he was agains the refugees at the Milles Collines he could have easily refused to sell. Instead he sol the beer and other supplies knowing it would be of help. The manager has never claimed otherwise. The check was never cashed. Rape/sex-slaves. At Rutaganda’s place of business the manager sees suffering half-naked women and Rutaganda say they are “Tutsi prostitutes”.

Grim stuff, but not true. Rutaganda was not accused of mistreating any women And there was defence testimony from a Tutsi woman who said she was rescued From a hospital and brought by a friend to Rutaganda’s where she was kept safe. So Dallaire didn’t rescue the refugees and Rutaganda didn’t have boxes of machetes. Rutaganda didn’t make hate speeches or threaten anyone at the Milles Collines (he did attend a wedding there at the height of the crisis, along With other Hutus and Tutsis). The creators of “Hotel Rwanda” made it up. Why? Because the truth would only get in the way of the great new noble cause of “humanitarian interventionism”. Darfur, here we come.

this article first appeared on congopanorama.info