Hotel Rwanda

Don Cheadle is really one of the ten best living actors. Anyone not yet familiar with the man's impressive body of work should familiarize themselves with it as soon as possible (Start with Devil in a Blue Dress). He is in theaters, and Oscar nominated for Hotel Rwanda, a film that presents horrific actual events in a very straightforward way. This is a good decision. They let Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo, who plays his wife, communicate the full emotional toll of the overwhelming events they experience. Joaquin Phoenix plays a journalist who, upon photographing the slaughter, tells Cheadle's character that people are going to see the footage think "that's terrible" and then go back to eating dinner. The film understands that this is true. In order to get people to experience the horror and pain, the filmmakers allow the viewer to become emotionally invested in Paul and his wife. This is not groundbreaking filmmaking, but it is always involving thanks to the simple but effective editing and the superb performance by Cheadle. On Oscar night they will play the clip of him slowly losing control of his frazzled emotions while he attempts to tie his necktie. It's a simple, affecting scene - an apt description of the film itself.