When Rwanda was a colony, many of the people the imperialist Belgians put in preferential positions were called Tutsis. They tended to be people with lighter skin and keener "white" features, such as thinner lips or noses (much like house slaves in the US before the Civil War). They were regarded as superior to the majority darker skinned Hutus. When the Belgians left the country, it was turned over to the Hutus who sought revenge. The conclusion by the disenfranchised Hutus was that the Tutsis, commonly referred to as "cock roaches," needed to be eliminated.

Don Cheadle ("Ocean’s Twelve") is real life hero Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, who saved over 1,200 citizens from death (a.k.a., Oskar Schindler). Rusesabagina’s gentlemanly demeanor allowed him to do his job as a hotel manager in the upscale property owned by Sabena Airlines, while wheeling and dealing with the corrupt military and business men by an intricate exchange of favors. He was astute enough to know that it’s better to give a rich man a Cuban cigar worth $20 rather than $500 in cash.

While Paul was trying to save his fellow citizens (he was a Hutu), he was also focused on his family. His Tutsi wife Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo) fought for her family as much as Paul fought for humanity in his country. Okonedo was outstanding in "Dirty Pretty Things" as a prostitute. Here, as a courageous wife and mother, her performance soars with strong emotions. She and Cheadle deliver Oscar caliber performances.

Even though the film is rated PG-13, the violence and disturbing images are mixed with some very warm moments of what family, patriotism and being a hero are truly all about. The scary part is that so much of the film was so ordinary that even though the setting is 10,000 miles away, the people feel like us and live in neighborhoods like we do. Could this be a "natural" evolution of events when the political middle ground becomes extinct?

When it comes to genocide we tend to think that it’s a thing of the past from the Holocaust in WWII. Yet, just a short 10 years ago, almost 1,000,000 people were killed in 100 days…a rate faster than Hitler was able to achieve. There was no smoke screen of train rides to new homes. It was "we know where they are, so let’s go kill them right now" butchery. It’s outrageous that the righteous Western World and the UN stood by and effectively did nothing. Proclamations do not count for squat. We seem able to define "acts" of genocide, but just how many such acts constitute genocide? Is the answer when everyone is dead and there is nothing left to do but count the corpses and feel sorry for them? The real answer may be if we are looking at a movie in 2014 saying similar things about the Sudan.

This form of terrorism is far beyond low wages in sweatshops. September 11 gave us the political will to fight one form of terrorism; maybe this film will give us the impetus to fight this type. Marvin Gaye’s song "What’s Going On?" says, "war is not the answer, only love can conquer hate."

Some of the best films of the year are love stories that we highly recommend. The love story in this setting is uplifting, as are the ones in more pleasant settings such as the California wine country in "Sideways" and walking along the Sienne in Paris of "Before Sunset". Life is short, so it’s worth the effort to try hard and make the most of it…not only for ourselves but also for all humankind.