In my essay, I would like to analyse one scene from Hotel Rwanda, which is based on a true story. The main character is Paul who runs a hotel and helps the refugees during a civil war in Rwanda. The name of Paul’s wife is Tatiana. His last name is Rusesabagina. He lives with his wife and his three children. Several days later, his house is destroyed because there is a civil war between two parts in Rwanda. He and his family moved to the hotel called Hotel des Mille Collines. That was the day he becomes a hotel manager. There are 2 groups in Rwanda, one is the Tutsi and one is the Hutu.

The scene I’m looking at is a moment between Paul and George at the part where Paul is leaving and then when the driver is driving, it looks as something bad happened in the area. There is dark mist above the river and the director chooses the mid shot and level angle to show that something dreadful took place but the viewers don’t know what it was.

After that, the car started to become a bit bumpy and they stopped. Paul is about to get off but he falls over to the floor and he sees only one dead person. When he stands up and looks around, there are more and more dead people laying around the road. There is a dark mist on the road. The director chooses the over the shoulder shot and level angle to make us feel what Paul feels. After that, he goes back into a car and that is when the one scene of Hotel Rwanda ends.

Now I will be talking about camera angle, in one scene from Hotel Rwanda some of the camera angles are level angle. The reasons why there is a level angle for the dead girl is because the director wants to make us feel sad and also want to show us that he realised that he saw a dead person. Also, there is a level angle for Paul who is looking at the dead bodies. Now there is another camera angle in a scene from Hotel Rwanda. There is a high angle for Paul so the director let him see all the dead bodies that are laying around the ground. Also, there is a high angle for the dead bodies that are laying around the ground and it also shows us what he sees.

The next thing I will be talking about is Sound effect. After Paul get off the car, it sounds like someone humming but it is not a calm music and it is not really nice. When Paul is on a ground he sees a girl with her hand covering over her, she is dead and the viewers can hear the sound of the machete. When I watch that, I feel startled because the combination of the humming and the sound of the machete when Paul sees the girl who is dead makes me jump up on my seat.

In conclusion, what I would like to say is that the director make the viewers understand whats going on that film because the director uses some of the camera angles such as level angle and high angle. If it’s high angle, it shows you what happened in Hotel Rwanda, for example, the part where Paul who is looking at all the dead bodies on the road. Also if it’s level angle, it shows you clearly and exactly what happened. Also, the director uses some of the sound effects such as the sound of the machete and also the sound of the humming. The sound on the part where Paul fall to the ground and sees a dead girl is the sound of the machete. After that, Paul stands up and looks at everyone who is on a ground and you can hear someone humming. This shows that the director succeeds in showing us everything that happened in Hotel Rwanda it also shows that the director knew that he got everything right in every single scene of Hotel Rwanda. That is how the director of Hotel Rwanda use cinematographic techniques to develop tension in Paul’s ‘Epiphany’ scene.