SPOTLIGHT: 'HOTEL RWANDA'

(M) Hotel Rwanda (George, 2004)-

This film cannot be given a grade. Its aesthetic value is ultimately meaningless, although it certainly doesn't fall short there. It happens, in fact, to be the most compelling political film made in a long time; it treats its subject with perspective and dignity while minimizing treacly consolations about the triumph of the human spirit. It has the same sobering effect as Schindler's List, but the immediacy of its message takes it even a step further. It's easy to dismiss its somewhat conventional style, but keep in mind that, today, its content is quite subversive: after all, the Sudanese genocide somehow merited not a single mention in George W.'s last State of the Union.