Miller-Genocide in Rwanda

Murambi: The Book of Bones is written in four parts. Diop’s novel traces the eturn of a Rwandan history teacher, Cornelius Uvimana, to his home country; this is after the Rwandan genocide in 1994. At the time of the genocide, Cornelius had been living and working in Djibouti, a place where many Rwandans aimed to seek safe haven. Unfortunately, Cornelius’s leave of absence from Rwanda has left him in the dark about the aftermath of the genocide. This leads him to the tragic discovery that, except for one uncle, he is the only one of his close family to have survived. It is sad but very often true in situations such as genocides: the very distance that saves him is what stops him from knowing more than a few murky details of what happened to his family, his land and its people in those terrible days; as a result, his knowledge of those events is characterized by uncertainty and fragmentation.

In Hotel Rwanda, we see tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi peoples lead to a civil war, in a country where corruption and bribes are seen as a normal way of doing business. Paul Rusesabagina is the manager of Sabena Hôtel des Mille Collines, a well known hotel in Rwanda. He is Hutu but his wife, Tatiana is Tutsi. His marriage is a source of friction with Hutu extremists; these are, after all, two of the factions which have been warring with each other for years. Perhaos most evident in this regard is George Rutaganda, a friendly supplier to the hotel who also is the local leader of Interahamwe, a brutal anti-Tutsi militia. As the political situation in the country deteriorates, Paul and his family observe neighbors being dragged from their homes and openly beaten in the streets. At first, Paul seems to take a selfish approach, doing only what is necessary to save him and his family and no one else. He does this in a number of ways: bribing public officials with money, alcohol, and other rarities that many were seeking during the time of war. Eventually, the chaos and turmoil ends up at his doorstep: a Rwandan Army officer threatens Paul and his neighbors. Although barely, Paul negotiates their safety, and brings everyone to the hotel, with the hope that people will be safer there. The United Nations and the Red Cross have set up refugee camps in Rwanda; however, these quickly become overcrowded. In a remarking departure from his former stance, Paul welcomes many of the refugees.

In the film, one of the most thoughtful aspects for me was the evolution of Paul’s character. He considers himself a moderate Hutu; after all, his wife is Tutsi. In a way, from the very beginning, he was always one willing to “buck the trend”; he did, after all, marry a Tutsi. At first, Paul only seems to want to do what is necessary to protect himself and his own family; his neighbors appear to be of little concern to him. However, as the genocide progresses, he is shown to have a more compassionate side to him; he eventually opens his hotel as a refugee camp of sorts, all while attempting to keep the image that he is operating a high class hotel.