Don Cheadle and British actress Sophie Okonedo received Oscar nominations for their portrayals of a husband and wife in the harrowing real-life drama Hotel Rwanda. Telling a rarely told story of genocide perpetrated by the Hutu militia on the Tutsi population, this was an "important" film for writer/director Terry George, which also earned him and co-writer Keir Pearson an Oscar nod for Best Screenplay.

Checking In

"I felt like the story chose me rather than me choosing the story," says Pearson in a thought-provoking half-hour 'making of' featurette. It took him a year to write the first draft at which point Terry George jumped at the opportunity to direct it. Of course George made some changes to the script and specifically talks about playing up the love story between Paul Rusesabagina and his wife to ensure their story would reach a wider audience. The real Rusesabagina also speaks eloquently about his efforts to protect more than 1200 Tutsis in the hotel he managed, while Cheadle confesses surprise at how little he knew about the genocide in Rwanda before embarking on this project.

Cheadle also offers a pensive commentary for over 20 minutes of selected scenes. In one particularly distressing sequence (where the militia are rounding up women and children in the street), the actor reveals, "We did a bunch of takes because I couldn't get my mind around how to deal with this." He goes on to explain that he could draw on very little from his own life except "certain run-ins with the LAPD".

Room With A View

George is joined by Rusesabagina for the feature commentary, but the director states from the outset, "I don't want this to be a commentary about how I moved the camera." Instead he talks to Rusesabagina about his recollections of events as compared to the way they are portrayed in the film. Naturally, while there are changes and tweaks, other details resonate very deeply with Rusesabagina, like constant rattle of gunfire in the background. "Gunfire was all over the country," he recalls, "You could hear nothing else." While his testament is moving and often upsetting, Rusesabagina never loses his composure. It's the steely resolve he shows in telling his account that makes this commentary so inspiring.

Rightly so, this DVD focuses on the context of the film as opposed to the filmmaking process. The result is a small selection of extras, but together they offer rare substance and a powerful case for the importance of storytelling.

EXTRA FEATURES