History Film / HotelRwanda

* RidiculousExchangeRates: Downplayed. An officer refuses to accept RWF bills as a bribe, calling them worthless.[[note]]The exchange rate Rwanda Franc : US Dollar was on May 1st, 1994 134.8733:1 according to https://fxtop.com/de/vergangene-rechner.php?A=1&C1=RWF&C2=USD&DD=01&MM=05&YYYY=1994&B=1&P=&I=1&btnOK =Go [[/note]]

* RapeAsDrama: Happens to the Tutsi women and girls captured by Rutaganda and his militiamen. Unfortunately, this is very much TruthInTelevision, since this was not only institutionalized but ''encouraged'' by the militias and military. One survivor of the genocide reported being raped more than 5 times a day while the men stood around and watched.
* RealPersonEpilogue: During the closing credits, it is mentioned that the real Paul and Tatiana Rusesabagina now lived in Belgium with their children and adopted nieces, and that that Thomas and Fedens were never found. It goes on to discuss how the genocide was ended by the Tutsi rebels in July 1994 when they drove the Hutu army and Interahamwe out of the country and into the Congo. The fates of both the real-life Georges Rutaganda and Augustin Bizimungu are mentioned as well, mentioning that Bizimungu had been captured in Angola in 2002 to stand trial before the war crimes tribunal set up by the UN in Tanzania, and that Rutaganda was sentenced to life in prison at the same tribunal.

* AdultFear:
** Having to keep your family safe during a genocide is a ''huge'' one. Add on the extra terror Paul must endure due to the fact that his wife is Tutsi and his children are half Tutsi. Then his nieces go missing, and he asks a humanitarian running a refugee camp to find them. [[spoiler:They are reunited in the end, and Paul's nieces evacuate with their family]].
** The scene where he finds his son covered in blood and screaming. Paul immediately brings Roger inside and starts wiping him down with a look of utmost terror, only for his family members to note that it's someone else's blood. It turns out that the kid went to see his neighbors, only to find their bodies. After that, Roger takes to hiding under the bed when he sees soldiers.
** Though not addressed by the film, Rusesabagina is in fact half-Tutsi himself, meaning that he was at even greater personal risk than implied, plus his children were technically 3/4 Tutsi.

* SuicidePact: This is the contingency plan Paul proposes to Tatiana in the event that he dies while protecting the hotel and is unable to hold back the Interahamwe, telling her that she and the children must jump from the roof of the hotel to avoid the indignity of being killed by the militia's machetes.

** Paul resorts to using this on General Bizimungu after his bribes stop working in order to force Bizimungu to protect the innocent people at the hotel from the wrath of the Interahamwe; [[spoiler: he reminds Bizimungu that the United Nations have him listed as a war criminal. Though Bizimungu counters by saying he did not lead any massacres and therefore had no reason to be listed as a war criminal, Paul says that nobody would believe him due to his status as an officer with the Rwandan Army. Paul was literally the only person who could tell anyone otherwise and threatens to keep the truth a secret unless Bizimungu continues to help him.]]

* BigotWithACrush: Played very darkly. The Hutu militia led by Georges Rutaganda plans of wiping out the country's Tutsi population, but not before keeping the women as [[SexSlave Sex Slaves]] for a while.

** Eventually, even regular Hutus gets persecuted as much as the Tutsis for not being extremist enough.

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: The Hutu soldiers and the Interahamwe slaughtering the Tutsis remind a lot the Nazis hunting and massacring the Jews during the Holocaust.

** The scene where he finds his son covered in blood and screaming. Paul immediately brings him inside and starts wiping him down with a look of utmost terror, only for his family members to note that it's someone else's blood. It turns out that the kid went to see his neighbors, only to find their bodies. After that, he takes to hiding under the bed when he sees soldiers.

* MoralPragmatism: Paul brings this up when Tatiana asks why doesn't he use his contacts to help out their neighbors, at the beginning of the movie. He says that they don't know how the situation will get worse and his priority is to protect hers and the kids. This doesn't last when a general tries to make him shoot his neighbors and family, and Paul realizes that to save his family he has to save ''everyone''.

* WhamShot: [[spoiler: The River Road scene.]]

* BigDamnHeroes: The closest you'll get in a movie so dark despite being commented on as not being dark as the real thing. [[spoiler:As the hotel refugees are leaving by way of UN-emblazoned transports, a swarm of Hutu militiamen are seen on the road ahead. Colonel Oliver is armed with ''a pistol,'' and he does nothing but cock it and order them to 'Keep driving.' Then, against what seems to be a building DownerEnding, a group of Tutsi rebels emerge from the nearby foliage and open fire, giving the trucks a way to pass through.]]

* EvilGloating: Rutaganda does this during Paul's second trip to the warehouse regarding how he and the other extremists were getting away with genocide. As if that wasn't bad enough, he [[spoiler:sends Paul down the river road covered with corpses ''just'' to keep rubbing it in his face.]]

* [[Blackmail]]:

* Blackmail:

** Paul resorts to using this on General Bizimungu when he uses up his bribes in order to force Bizimungu to protect the innocent people at the hotel from the wrath of the Interahamwe; [[spoiler: he reminds Bizimungu that the United Nations have him listed as a war criminal. Though Bizimungu counters by saying he did not lead any massacres and therefore had no reason to be listed as a war criminal, Paul says that nobody would believe him due to his status as an officer with the Rwandan Army. Paul was literally the only person who could tell anyone otherwise and threatens to keep the truth a secret unless Bizimungu continues to help him.]]

** Paul is viewed as one by Georges Rutaganda and many other Hutu extremists, due to his marriage to a Tutsi woman and his reluctance to partake in Hutu supremacist activities.