Jay Lagare

Hotel Rwanda is the Schindler’s List for Africa. A lot has happened and is happening in that continent that the rest of the world don’t know or don’t even care about. One of those is the massacre of Tutsis by Hutus extremists in 1994. In the middle of this madness, a reluctant hotel manager was thrust into a situation where he can do what is right. He chose to do so. He opened the hotel he was managing to as many refugees as he can accomodate and used his contacts and influence to feed and protect them.

The sad thing is that while one man did what he can, the rest of the world, especially the US, didn’t do anything at all. It was left up to the Tutsis themselves to rid Rwanda of the Hutu extremists who carried out “acts of genocide” as the U.N. calls the mass murder of almost a million.

Today, “acts of genocide” are being carried out in the Darfur region of Sudan. And probably elsewhere too. But has the world learned its lesson and do something? So far it doesn’t seem that way.

Rating: 4/5

In Apocalypto, Mel Gibson brought to life the Mayan civilization and used it as his setting. Novel enough in itself. Like The Passion of The Christ, he uses an archaic language. In this case, Mayan. Like the previous movie there are English subtitles. And that’s where the similarities end. Make no mistake: This is purely an action movie. And you get loads of gripping, adrenaline-pumping action especially during the long, extended climax where the escaped protagonist was being hunted by his former captors as he makes his way back to his village to rescue his family. Good enough for an action fix.

Rating: 3/5

Crash has what’s got to be one of the most powerful scenes in a movie. It’s worth watching if only for that. But it is a lot more than that. The movie is about the interleaving stories of several characters as they go about their lives in downtown LA. It is a story about racism, how it’s not limited to just one group, and the animosity it generates. It is a story that, amidst all this, there are redeeming human qualities that give us a glimpse of hope. All these was very well told. Paul Haggis (story, screenplay, and director) rocks!

Rating: 5/5

After the long drought of any watchable movies due to the so-called Metro Manila Film Festival (nothing to be festive about if you ask me), I was really in need for something to watch. The most interesting of the new openings seemed to be Déjà Vu so off I went. I was expecting it to be similar to Man on Fire. But heck it was just for an action fix. Denzel Washington was good (what’s new?), Val Kilmer turned in a good supporting role (his curse since Top Gun), and even James Caviezel got the villain role down pat. But it turned out I was right: The two movies were indeed similar. But they were also quite dissimilar. Better if you watch yourself but I’ll tell you this much: In both movies he dies (oopsie), but in this one he gets the girl. Have fun!

Rating: 4/5

I spent my Christmas Day morning watching An Inconvenient Truth via YouTube. Due to video length limitations, it was divided into 10 segments (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) but it provides a glimpse of the future of TV. But on to the movie. It’s basically a wake-up call on global warming: a fact that a lot of people don’t want to face. It presents exhibit after exhibit of evidence on global warming, what it is, what it is doing, and what part we can play to prevent it. Go watch it. If it doesn’t show in local cinemas (highly probable), then buy a VCD/DVD, use YouTube, or something. Then start using E10, biodiesel, hybrids, and fuel cells as they become available (and affordable) because the biggest contribution we as individuals make to global warming is through the cars we drive.