Oscar-nominated Don Cheadle delivers the performance of his career in this gut-wrenching drama based on events in Rwanda in the mid-1990s. Dubbed "Africa's Schindler's List" by US critics, it's an inspirational and shame-inducing story of one man's courage in the face of genuine horror. In a brilliantly complex turn, Cheadle plays true-life hero Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who saved the lives of more than 1,200 refugees - the majority of them Tutsi - by sheltering them at his workplace. Cleanly shot with an acute sense of realism, the film focuses on the emotional interaction between its characters as they struggle to survive despite appalling indifference from the West. By homing in on just one element of the Hutu campaign of genocide, co-writer/director Terry George gives a human face to the shocking statistics, while his simple, straightforward style emphasises the chilling casualness of the violence. Occasionally there's a sense of unnecessary manipulation, but it's quickly forgotten in a picture of genuine weight and power.

Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.