10 Best Performances In War Movies

Many war movies are hard to watch. It’s not exactly a lighthearted subject, and indeed films that don’t treat war with a suitable amount of reverence tend to be jingoistic and distasteful. Few can be quite as hard to watch as Hotel Rwanda, though.

Set during the 1994 civil war, the film centres around the real life mass genocide primarily of the country’s Tutsi population. Cheadle plays Paul Rusesabagina, a Rwandan hotelier who hid, protected, and saved the lives of over 1,200 refugees during the crisis.

This is a performance of incredible humanity. Few could go untouched by this story, but Cheadle captures the sheer heft of Rusesabigina’s undertaking perfectly - he’s a businessman, but he’s Hutu, married to a Tutsi woman. He has witnessed and even experienced prejudice, and is inclined to take action.

Most importantly, Cheadle captures the sheer horror at the heart of the Rwandan genocide. He is a haunted presence onscreen, shaken to his core by what he has seen. Elements of the true story are dramatised, but at its core is a good man who became a hero, and Cheadle’s performance is an apt commemoration.