There's a line in Hotel Rwanda where Joaquin Phoenix, having recently filmed the first acts of genocide, talks about how people will react. "They'll say 'Oh my god that's horrible' and they'll go on eating their dinners". It ruined the film for me because I didn't want to be one of them, but what can I do? A little Googling, some light research - hey, fuck, it really was terrible wasn't it? - and then back to normal. It's a million miles away and I might as well feel bad for the Mars rover that never landed.
It didn't help that I thought the film was trite and emotionally cloying; reducing a million plus genocide into a made-for-TV special. Still, it's in the American Film Institute's 100 most inspirational films. Presumably because a) it really speaks to the people, and b) nothing says "Sorry we ignored everything" like coming below Babe and Star Wars in a list.
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