Michael Rechtshaffen, writing in The Hollywood Reporter, stated actor "Cheadle impressively carries the entire picture, delivering the kind of note-perfect performance that's absolutely deserving of Oscar consideration." Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times called it a "riveting drama", while exclaiming "The film works not because the screen is filled with meaningless special effects, formless action and vast digital armies, but because Cheadle, Nolte and the filmmakers are interested in how two men choose to function in an impossible situation. Because we sympathize with these men, we are moved by the film." In the San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle wrote that the film was a "harrowing experience", and that "it documents for a mass audience what it was like. It's useful, in that it shows how it can happen. It's even hopeful, in that it shows that it's possible—not guaranteed, but possible—for people to maintain their humanity in the face of unhinged barbarism." Claudia Puig of USA Today stated the film was "one of the year's most moving and powerful films, anchored by a magnificent performance by Don Cheadle." She declared, "Hotel Rwanda emerges as an African version of Schindler's List." The film was not without detractors, Dave Sterrit of The Christian Science Monitor felt that, although the subject matter was crucially important, "the movie dilutes its impact with by-the-numbers filmmaking, and Cheadle's one-note performance displays few of his acting gifts." Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly commented on the character significance of the U.N. personnel, she stated it was "a bad day for narrative, if not for diplomacy, when there is only one 3-D character among the entire U.N. lot, clad in their blue helmets, and that role is rasped by Nick Nolte with moral remorse rather than his more usual hint of dissolution." In her overall summation, she wrote "Hotel Rwanda is a strange history lesson that leaves us more overlectured than properly overwhelmed." Michael Atkinson of The Village Voice, added to the negativity by stating the film was "told to us secondhand, or glimpsed in distant scuffles" and "Like the majority of movies about the last century of holocausts, Hotel Rwanda is as earnest and tasteful as its creators. To capture the white-hot terror of social calamity, someone a little more lawless and fierce might be called for."
Writing for The New York Times, Stephen Holden wrote the film was "a political thriller based on fact that hammers every button on the emotional console." James Berardinelli, writing for ReelViews, called the film "powerful" and noted that it didn't "pull as many punches as its detractors would have us believe." Describing some pitfalls, Jeff Vice of the Deseret News stated the "decision by the filmmakers to show things from that limited viewpoint—to show how isolated and fearful the characters were of the chaos going on around them—the film feels a little dishonest and diminished. It's never quite as effective as The Killing Fields or Schindler's List in that the film's overall impact is not as great and it doesn't linger in the memory."
Eleanor R. Gillespie of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution stated that Hotel Rwanda was an "unforgettable film" as well as "a doubly unforgettable performance by Don Cheadle." Similarly, David Ansen wrote in Newsweek that "two performances carry the film. Cheadle, in his richest role since Devil in a Blue Dress, burrows deep inside this complex man, who discovers in himself a strength he never knew he possessed, as he faces the disillusionment of all the "civilized" notions he believes in. As his strong, committed wife, Tatiana, Sophie Okonedo, barely resembling the saucy hooker she played in Dirty Pretty Things, is a revelation." However, in the Arizona Daily Star, Phil Villarreal was not moved by the lead acting of Cheadle or Nolte. He thought the characters were "cardboardish" and stated the "uplifting moments of rescue seem antiseptic and set up." Critic Leonard Maltin wrote that Hotel Rwanda was a "powerful film" that he thought avoided being "overly didactic by focusing on one compelling character, believably brought to life by Cheadle." In Reel Power: Hollywood Cinema and American Supremacy, drawing on the work of journalist Keith Harmon Snow and writer Edward S. Herman, author Matthew Alford called the film "sensitive, humane and powerful" but noted that it was "striking how the history of bloodshed has been spun in line with Western interests".
Top 10 lists
Hotel Rwanda was listed on many critics' top ten lists for 2004.
- 1st – Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
- 3rd – Claudia Puig, USA Today
- 3rd – Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com
- 6th – Ruthie Stein, San Francisco Chronicle
- 8th – Lawrence Toppman, Salon.com
- 8th – Mick LaSalle & Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle
- 9th – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
- 10th – Desson Thomson, Washington Post
- 10th – Lawrence Toppman, Charlotte Observer
- Top 10 (listed alphabetically) – Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer
- Top 10 (listed alphabetically) – Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times
Accolades
The film was nominated and won several awards in 2004–2006. Various critics included the film on their lists of the top 10 best films of 2004. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times named it ninth best, Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle named it eighth best, and Desson Thomson of The Washington Post named it tenth best. The film is also listed by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 most inspirational movies of all time.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee
! Result
|-
|rowspan=3|77th Academy Awards
|align="center" |Best Actor
|align="center" |Don Cheadle
|
|-
|align="center" |Best Supporting Actress
|align="center" |Sophie Okonedo
|
|-
|align="center" |Best Original Screenplay
|align="center" |Keir Pearson, Terry George
|
|-
|American Film Institute Awards 2004
|align="center" |Top Audience Award
|align="center" |————
|
|-
|Discover Screenwriting Award 2004
|align="center" |Discover Screenwriting Award
|align="center" |Keir Pearson, Terry George
|
|-
|2005 Berlin International Film Festival
|align="center" |Out of Competition
|align="center" |————
|
|-
|2005 Bet Awards
|align="center" |Best Actor
|align="center" |Don Cheadle
|
|-
|rowspan=2|Black Reel Awards of 2005
|align="center" |Best Actor in a Drama
|align="center" |Don Cheadle
|
|-
|align="center" |Best Actress in a Drama
|align="center" |Sophie Okonedo
|
|-
||59th British Academy Film Awards
|align="center" |Best Original Screenplay
|align="center" |Keir Pearson, Terry George
|
|-
|rowspan=2|Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2004
|align="center" |Best Picture
|align="center" |————
|
|-
|align="center" |Best Actor
|align="center" |Don Cheadle
|
|-
|rowspan=2|Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 2005
|align="center" |Best Actor
|align="center" |Don Cheadle
|
|-
|align="center" |Best Picture
|align="center" |————
|
|-
|2005 David Di Donatello Awards
|align="center" |Best Foreign Film
|align="center" |————
|
|-
|2005 18th European Film Awards
|align="center" |Best Composer
|align="center" |Rupert Gregson-Williams, Andrea Guerra
|
|-
|rowspan=3|62nd Golden Globe Awards
|align="center" |Best Picture – Drama
|align="center" |————
|
|-
|align="center" |Best Actor – Drama
|align="center" |Don Cheadle
|
|-
|align="center" |Best Original Song
|align="center" |Jerry Duplessis, Andrea Guerra, Wyclef Jean
|
|-
|rowspan=4|Golden Satellite Awards 2004
|align="center" |Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
|align="center" |Don Cheadle
|
|-
|align="center" |Best Motion Picture Drama
|align="center" |————
|
|-
|align="center" |Best Original Song
|align="center" |Jerry Duplessis, Andrea Guerra, Wyclef Jean
|
|-
|align="center" |Best Original Screenplay
|align="center" |Keir Pearson, Terry George
|
|-
|2006 Grammy Awards
|align="center" |Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
|align="center" |Jerry Duplessis, Andrea Guerra, Wyclef Jean
|
|-
|2005 Humanitas Prize
|align="center" |Humanitas Prize
|align="center" |Keir Pearson, Terry George
|
|-
|rowspan=2|2005 3rd Irish Film & Television Awards
|align="center" |Best Director
|align="center" |Terry George
|
|-
|align="center" |Best Script for Film
|align="center" |Keir Pearson, Terry George
|
|-
|31st Japan Academy Prize Ceremony
|align="center" |Best Foreign Language Film
|align="center" |————
|
|-
|rowspan=3|London Film Critics Circle Awards 2005
|align="center" |Best British Director
|align="center" |Terry George
|
|-
|align="center" |Best Actor
|align="center" |Don Cheadle
|
|-
|align="center" |Best British Supporting Actress
|align="center" |Sophie Okonedo
|
|-
|2005 Movieguide Awards
|align="center" |Most Inspiring Movie Acting
|align="center" |Don Cheadle
|
|-
|rowspan=3|2005 36th NAACP Image Awards
|align="center" |Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
|align="center" |Don Cheadle
|
|-
|align="center" |Outstanding Motion Picture
|align="center" |————
|
|-
|align="center" |Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
|align="center" |Sophie Okonedo
|
|-
|2006 Nastro d'Argento Silver Ribbon Award
|align="center" |Best Score
|align="center" |Andrea Guerra
|
|-
|2004 National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Awards
|align="center" |Top Ten Films
|align="center" |————
|
|-
|Online Film Critics Society Awards 2004
|align="center" |Best Actor
|align="center" |Don Cheadle
|
|-
|rowspan=3|2004 Political Film Society Awards
|align="center" |Exposé
|align="center" |————
|
|-
|align="center" |Human Rights
|align="center" |————
|
|-
|align="center" |Peace
|align="center" |————
|
|-
|Producers Guild of America Awards 2004
|align="center" |Stanley Kramer Award
|align="center" |————
|
|-
|2006 Robert Awards
|align="center" |Best Non-American Film
|align="center" |Terry George
|
|-
|San Diego Film Critics Society Awards 2004
|align="center" |Body of Work
|align="center" |Don Cheadle
|
|-
|rowspan=3|11th Screen Actors Guild Awards
|align="center" |Best Ensemble Acting
|align="center" |————
|
|-
|align="center" |Best Actor
|align="center" |Don Cheadle
|
|-
|align="center" |Best Supporting Actress
|align="center" |Sophie Okonedo
|
|-
|Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards 2004
|align="center" |Best Picture
|align="center" |————
|
|-
|2004 Toronto International Film Festival
|align="center" |People's Choice Award
|align="center" |Terry George
|
|-
|Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards 2004
|align="center" |Best Actor
|align="center" |Don Cheadle
|
|-
|World Soundtrack Awards 2005
|align="center" |Best Original Song Written for a Film
|align="center" |Jerry Duplessis, Andrea Guerra, Wyclef Jean
|
|-
|Writers Guild of America Awards 2004
|align="center" |Best Original Screenplay
|align="center" |Keir Pearson, Terry George
|
|-
|}
See also
- Paul Rusesabagina – Main character, and source of information, for Hotel Rwanda
- Roméo Dallaire – A UNAMIR Force Commander in Hotel Rwanda, and noted critic of the movie
- 2004 in film
- Hutu Power – a racist and ethnic supremacist ideology propounded by Hutu extremists in Rwanda
- Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines – a Rwandan radio station which played a significant role during the Genocide against the Tutsi