Ten years ago marked one of the bloodiest chapters in recent African history.

Written off as another "third world incident" the genocide which resulted from the Rwandan conflict of the 1990s was made even more tragic by the fact that most of the world chose to ignore it.

Based on the real-life experiences of Paul Rusesabagina (Cheadle), this follows the story of the Hutu manager of the Hotel Des Mille Collines, in Kigali.

Together with his Tutsi wife, Tatiana (Okonedo), and children, he managed to narrowly escape death whilst saving the lives of more than 1,200 Tutsis and Hutu moderates.

As the civil war escalates western nations pull out and the UN (led by Nick Nolte) is powerless to intervene.

Meanwhile the hotel's capacity reaches fever pitch as Tutsi orphans and refugees keep spilling through the gates of the four-star establishment.

Keeping himself and his charges alive with a mix of intelligence and valour, Paul manages to bribe the Hutu military to protect the hotel from insurgents.

The movie, which seemingly decides not to centre wholly on the atrocities, manages to hit every emotional button despite not showing the full extent of the savagery.

This is a deliberate method utilised by the filmmakers in order to depict the film as a powerful human drama as opposed to a horror story.

Although not the first screen depiction of a nation consumed in ethnic strife, its vision of the conflict offers a devastating picture of media-driven mass murder left unimpeded.

Vickie Juett.