Review: Imperialism and Colonialism: E. Said

In the movie "Hotel Rwanda" is based on a true story. The conflicts between the Hutu and Tutsi peoples lead them to a civil war. The country soon after was corrupted and bribery was the daily routine. Paul who is the manger of the Hotel is Hutu but his wife Tatiana is Tutsi. George who is the supplier to the hotel who was also the local leader of Interahamwe (anti-Tutsi militia) is an activist who did not approve of Paul and Tatiana’s marriage. 

             As the country starts to get worse due to the political situation, Paul and his family watched their neighbours being thrown from their homes and beaten in the streets where everyone else can observe. When the civil war started a Rwandan Army Officer threatens Paul and his neighbours. Paul would try his very best to carry favour with people of influence. He would bribe them with money, alcohol and jewellery to make sure he keeps his family safe. When the war erupt it was very difficult for Paul to continue to negotiate safety and bring everyone to the hotel. As a manager of the hotel Paul must convince the Hutu soldiers to care for the people who were at the hotel and maintain the appearance of a functioning high-class hotel. The situation becomes more violent with mobs in the streets just ready to kill more people.

                 With the brief summary of the movie given above we can see that this movie relates to the course when we discussed about imperialism and colonialism. On March 3rd in class we discuss the two term through Edward Said. He made a distinction between imperialism and colonialism. He said that imperialism is "thinking about, settling on, controlling land that you do not possess, that is distant, that is lived on and owned by others"(Said, 7). And colonialism as, "the implanting of settlements on distant territory" (Said, 9). In the movie Hotel Rwanda we can say that it suffered from cultural imperialism because it was spreading one culture into another one. There was one part in the movie were Paul (the hotel manager) had to call for help because the soldiers were coming to attack the people who were staying at the hotel. He called a someone from the dominant culture for help. Power was needed to help Paul and his family and friends. The person of the dominant culture was able to influence the soldiers in not causing them problems.