Hotel Rwanda Page #26

They shove Paul along the corridor.

MILITIAMAN #1

Show us the manager. He wears a suit.

PAUL:

They have him in the lobby, go quickly.

The killers race off. Paul gets to his feet and runs.

INT. PAUL'S ROOM. DAY

Paul bursts in. The place is a mess. And it's empty!

PAUL:

Oh God, please Lord.

IN THE CORRIDOR:

He careens out of the room.

And sees Gregoire coming with a group of Militia.

GREGOIRE:

That's him. That's Rusesabagina!

They charge toward Paul.

Then a roar of gunfire. The ceiling and walls around Gregoire explode.

General Bizimungu's men run up with weapons drawn.

HUTU SOLDIER:

Get out, or I'll shoot you.

Paul rushes to the stairs.

More gunfire echoes (soldiers clearing the Militia).

AT THE STAIRS - Paul races upward, falls, pushes past others struggling

to get down.

AT THE ROOF - now, there are clumps of refugees who have fled up there,

including Xavier who huddles in a corner.

PAUL:

Tatiana! Oh God. Have you seen Tatiana?

Paul runs to the edge of the roof, looks over.

SEES:
bodies - women, and children, still, on the ground beneath, by a

row of hedge.

PAUL (CONT'D)

(screams in agony)

Tatiana!

The bodies move, look up, it's not them. It's refugees hiding. Paul,

delirious with fear, runs along the parapet.

BELOW he sees soldiers herding the Militia.

He runs back to the stairs.

INSIDE THE STAIRCASE: He jumps four stairs at a time.

INSIDE THE CORRIDOR: Soldiers are chasing off the Militia.

TO HIS ROOM:
Paul staggers in, crazed with fear. He looks under the

bed.

INTO THE BATHROOM - empty.

He's about to run out again, sees the connecting door to the adjoining

hotel room is slightly open.

INTO THE ADJOINING ROOM: It's empty, then A WHIMPER.

FROM THE BATHROOM, he moves in, cautious.

IN THE BATHROOM:
Nothing. He moves over, pulls back the shower curtain.

Reveals:
A cluster of women and children, the older ones holding hands

over the mouths of the younger ones. And there at the back: Tatiana and

his kids.

PAUL (CONT'D)

It's alright, they're gone.

Tears, hugs, women tremble.

EXT. HOTEL FORECOURT. DAWN

The grey of dawn, before the sunrise.

Colonel Oliver in his jeep leads a convoy of UN trucks past the guard

house and Bizimungu's police and up the drive.

CUT TO:

THE UN TRUCKS:

Parked in front of the hotel. Tutsi refugees file up and are helped on

board by UN soldiers.

Paul helps Tatiana and the children onto a truck.

An ARGUMENT breaks out towards the back of the convoy. Paul rushes

toward Xavier and Benedict who argue.

XAVIER:

They should go one truck at a time. When

the first truck gets through to the

airport, then the others will follow.

PAUL:

We can't wait. We all go together or not

at all.

Paul takes matters into his own hands. He locks the doors of the hotel.

There is no going back.

PAUL (CONT'D)

It is time to leave. The Mille Collines

is closed.

Paul climbs onto the truck. The others follow, some reluctantly.

Colonel Oliver gives the signal.

The trucks take off down the driveway.

INT. TRUCK TRAVELLING. DAY

Paul now at the front of the truck

WATCHES out through a slice in the canvas.

SEES, the convoy pull out of the Mille Collines.

They travel along the road.

Turn a corner, and the truck slows ...

PAUL SEES:
a great mass of Hutus fill the road:

Militia, kids, soldiers discarding uniforms.

No longer a mob, but a crush of Hutu refugees now fleeing toward them,

fleeing the advancing of the rebel army.

A crowd of Militia men wave their arms, shout at the trucks.

COLONEL OLIVER:

Don't stop. Push through.

The driver reluctantly speeds up.

A break in the mass of Hutu refugees.

Then GUN FIRE ahead.

Children begin crying, it becomes infectious, spreading to Paul's

children, some of the women.

Then ahead, a gang of Militia men break from the bushes beside the

road.

They're running fast toward the truck, some carry rifles.

There's more gunfire behind.

The Militia are almost upon them now.

Colonel Oliver has his pistol drawn.

COLONEL OLIVER (CONT'D)

Keep going.

The Militia are at the truck.

But they run STRAIGHT PAST!

As a platoon of Tutsi rebel soldiers (in bush camouflage and red and

blue headbands) burst from the brush.

Pursuing, careful, professional.

PAUL:

It's the rebels.

The crying stops. Silent disbelief.

PAUL (CONT'D)

We've made it!

Cheering breaks out. Children frightened again by the sudden euphoria

break into cries of joy.

A rebel soldier waves his AK 47 in the air.

EXT. KIGALI SOCCER STADIUM. DAY

The trucks crawl into the chaos of the stadium, a mass of refugees, the

wounded, lost children, abandoned old people, hundreds crammed

together.

Paul, Tatiana, and the others clamber off the trucks. They hug, cry, an

outpouring of relief. Then Tatiana spots someone among the crowds.

She rushes over.

TATIANA:

Have you seen my sister Fedens?

Heads shak ‘no’. Tatiana moves on, more frantic, pushing through the

crowds.

TATIANA:

Two little girls, twins, an old woman had

them.

More ‘nos’

Now she’s desperate, pushing, tripping through the crowds, and around

her we see others doing the same, then

ROGER (O.C.)

Mama, mama.

He reaches her, pulls at her dress.

ROGER:

Mama, wait.

She takes his hand.

ROGER:

No, mama, look.

Tatiana turns .... and sees Paul carrying the twins in his arms.

She squeals with joy, runs to him, snatches one from his arms.

TATIANA:

Oh, my babies.

PAUL (CONT'D)

Anais, it is so good to see you.

CARINE:

I'm Carine!

ANAIS:

(in Tatsi's arms)

And I'm Anais!

Their laughter mix with tears of joy among the crushing mass of

survivors.

FREEZE:

FADE TO BLACK:

THE GENOCIDE ENDED IN LATE JUNE 1994, WHEN THE TUTSI REBELS DEFEATED

THE HUTU ARMY AND MILITIA.

TWO MILLION HUTUS FLED INTO THE NEIGHBORING CONGO IN THE LARGEST SINGLE

EXODUS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

THEY LEFT BEHIND ALMOST ONE MILLION CORPSES.

------------------------------------------

PHOTO OF:
GEORGE RUTAGUNDA

George Rutagunda was convicted of crimes against humanity. He is now

serving a life sentence in a Tanzanian jail.

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