Valencia: Hotel Rwanda

Hotel Rwanda is a film that is based off of a true story that occurred during the genocide of the Tutsi at the hands of the Hutu in Rwanda during the 1990’s. The film follows the life of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager, who saves hundreds of lives by turning the hotel he managed into a refugee camp for the Tutsi. Paul’s family also happens to be Tutsi, and does everything in his power to keep them safe.

 Hotel Rwanda is a very powerful movie. It shows two very important sides of humanity. The main character, Paul, represents the good qualities of humans. These include selflessness, love, and compassion. The movie also shows the other side of humanity, the side that not only slaughters innocent people, but the side that sees it and does nothing to help.

The Hutu slaughtered and murdered in the name of race and took to the streets with machetes after the president’s plane had crashed. It is unclear who exactly was to blame for the death of the president. The Hutu extremists represent ignorance, hate, and murder. Ignorance and hate clearly make a deadly combination.

While the Hutu represent ignorance, hate, and murder, they are not the only ones at fault. It is arguable that the rest of the world indirectly murdered the Tutsi by not doing anything. The Europeans and Americans represent selfishness, racism, and greed. They saw the atrocities that were being committed and did nothing but stand and watch. The fact is, no other country wanted to get involved in something that had no benefits for them. There was a crisis and hundreds of thousands of people were being slaughtered in the street out of hate and ignorance, yet no one helped. Arguably the foreign superpowers could be as accountable for murdering the Tutsi as the Hutu are, because they did nothing to stop it.

It is truly sad that anybody would look at a situation as dire as Rwanda and think about profit before thinking about how they could help. There is truly something wrong when innocent lives are lost as a cost of selfishness.

Valencia: Human Trafficking

If one were to walk down almost any major street in the US and ask random people if slavery still existed today in the modern world, chances are most would say no. These people would be dead wrong however. Slavery is still a major problem in the 21^st century; millions of people are enslaved world-wide as sex slaves and laborers. It is absolutely despicable that this problem exists at all in this day and age.

How can this deplorable problem be solved? Well, as far as the US goes, I would suggest funneling a large part of the money that is being used to fund the war against drugs and putting it towards anti-human trafficking organizations. In fact, I believe there should be an agency that specifically deals with human trafficking. There are multiple organizations against drugs (DEA, ATF, etc) that are receiving substantial (to say the least) amounts of funding to crack down on drugs, why not something more important like people? In fact, the US government spends 300 times more on cracking down on drugs than it does human trafficking.

The government alone cannot end this horrible market however. No supply exists without demand. A business cannot survive without its customers. Sadly, most of the demand for human trafficking comes from Americans. The American customers aren’t exactly out of the ordinary people as well. Most are businessmen, many married, many of whom have children. They are remarkably average. If demand can’t be reduced down to 0%, then a harm-reduction path should be taken. It pains me to say it, but prostitution should be legalized. If a businessman wants to have a fling, it’s better if he goes to a place where the women are there by choice and are getting paid, rather than going to a shady, run-down, hole-in-the-wall kind of place where the girls there are underage and forced to be there against their will.

Education also plays a huge role in stopping this problem. People have to be informed that this problem still exists and that it must be stopped. Girls should also be taught at a young age about this problem, they should be shown what can happen to them if they are not careful, just like the 12 year old from Human Trafficking.

Valencia: District 9

District 9 is a mockumentary that covers the story of extraterrestrial aliens in South Africa and their relationship with humans. It all began when a strange alien ship stopped over Johannesburg. Personally I’m glad it didn’t stop in New York or Chicago or any other place most would expect it to. It makes it seem less likely that the aliens came to invade Earth. Technically, humans invaded the alien space ship. What they found however, defied their expectations. On board the ship were multitudes of malnourished aliens.  They were taken, nursed back to health, and given shelter. However, the shelter they were given was absolute trash and prejudice ensued.

I believe the message in District 9 is about xenophobia, exploitation, and colonialism The biggest case for this is the life of the main character Wickus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley) before and after his transformation. It is ironic because he was formerly in charge of evicting the aliens (also known as Prauns), but then he is exposed to a liquid which slowly transformed him into a Praun. Once he begins his transformation, he begins to feel the same unfair treatment the Prauns were given. The prejudices and mistreatment becomes especially evident as Wickus witnesses first-hand what he had been contributing to.

A couple of things I like about this film are the use of extraterrestrial aliens as aliens from a legal standpoint. It makes things very clear-cut.  It shows how in society, foreigners are feared, but exploited. All throughout this has been the case. Every single colonial power has gone to a foreign territory and exploited the “aliens” for personal benefit. However in District 9, rather than humans exploring a foreign territory, the aliens come to the humans and are then exploited by them. This flips the typical alien-thriller movie where the “evil aliens” come and take over the earth completely on its head. In District 9, humans essentially are the “evil aliens” who take over.

Valencia: Restrepo

The film Restrepo follows the lives of the men in a platoon of the US Army, whom were deployed in the Korengal valley located in Afghanistan. The film focuses on the platoon’s campaign in the valley, which is to set up an outpost and drive out the Taliban, in order for the US to move freely through the valley without coming under fire. The outpost was named after Juan “Doc” Restrepo, a good friend of all the soldiers in the platoon who had been killed in action. The film follows the progress of the entire campaign and the lives of the soldiers who carry it out.

Restrepo is a direct first-person view into the reality of a US Army soldier. It almost reminds me of a real life version of a “Call of Duty” video game. However, instead of every moment being filled with massive explosions and constant intense action, Resptrepo shows what it is actually like to be a soldier; the work, the boredom, and what it is like to lose a friend in battle. What I like about this film is it’s not slanted. It shows the negatives of war (which isn’t hard to do) realistically, for instance the innocent children who were injured and killed by American attacks. It also shows the negatives of the soldiers, for example, when Captain Kearney says he did not read about the valley because he wanted to go in with an open mind. I found this just plain ignorant. The fact that the man who has other mens lives in his hands would not get all the possible information about a place where he and his platoon were going to be stationed for a year.

This film has changed the way I look at the war in Afghanistan, and specifically how little progress is being made because of the way our soldiers are dealing with diplomatic situations. There is little empathy or understanding, and there is stubbornness on both sides. I believe that the way this war is being fought is much like our drug war. I believe that little progress is being made because certain issues are not being dealt with appropriately, shooting and bombing doesn’t fix everything. In my opinion, this war cannot be won with manpower alone. We need to change our diplomatic tactics to work with the people and give them reason not to join terrorist organizations.

Three questions I would ask Sebastian Junger are:

1.       How has filming Restrepo changed your view of US soldiers?

2.       How well do you think the US is working diplomatically in Afghanistan? What would you change?

3.       Why do you choose to film right in the action (in the middle of firefights, bombing runs, etc) as well as the personal life of the soldier (the dancing, dinner, etc.)?

Valencia: Rendition

The film Rendition covers the story of a man, who was suspected of working with terrorists, whom was kidnapped, shipped off, and tortured by the US government in cooperation with the Egyptian government. The film brings up issues like national security, human rights, constitutionality, and government cover ups. It is a very political film that is hard to watch at some parts, but this also makes it a powerful film.

This film shows the real, ugly side of torture and the practices that our own government denies it carries out. I personally don’t believe in torture. Being tortured is my worst nightmare, especially after seeing films like Hostel and Reservoir Dogs. The fact that our government carries this out in the first place is horrible, not to mention illegal. Also the fact that our government denies it happens doesn’t help either. 

I do not believe our government should in any way shape or form physically torture someone, especially without substantial evidence or a trail. I find this blatant stepping on constitutional and human rights deplorable. Not to mention, what happened to innocent until proven guilty? If tortured enough, practically anyone would confess to any crime they were charged with. The victim could confess to having been Christopher Columbus and discovering Norway while sailing in a mini-van if put through enough pain. As Shakespeare wrote, “Ay, but I fear you speak upon the rack, where men enforced do speak anything.”

The unfortunate individual also does not have any way of fighting back. There are no lawyers, no trails, and according to the government, it doesn’t even happen in the first place. The individual is rendered completely hopeless; they are at the mercy of their captors.

I am completely against the use of physical torture techniques for interrogation purposes. I am also against the complete lack of rules or regulation when it comes to the kidnapping and torture of people without a trail or even substantial evidence. It is illegal, unconstitutional, immoral, and inhumane amongst many other things.

Valencia, The Social Network

The Social Network follows the life of Mike Zuckerberg, the world’s youngest billionaire, as he creates (and is sewed over) one of the most important websites of our time: Facebook. I believe there is a political message behind this film; however I feel there is a more important message about how modern-day society is evolving.

The political message behind The Social Network is that privacy is a thing of the past. Things on the internet aren’t written in pencil, they’re written in ink. The only difference however is that with facebook, you choose which information you put out for the entire world to see. It’s strange to me that multitudes of people will complain about invasion of privacy, yet many of the same people will post the most intimate details of their lives on the internet for all to see.  

I think that social networking is both positive and detrimental to society. Facebook is like a gun, it’s a tool. However in the wrong hands that tool can seriously harm someone. Now I’m not saying facebook is the devil, I’m not gonna lie, it’s a pretty awesome tool to keep in touch with friends who are out of state or in different countries. There are some major problems with facebook and social networking in general.

First off, it is changing the way people interact with each other face-to-face and this is particularly evident in younger generations. In my opinion, kids are losing their guts (not literally of course). People start fights on the internet because they are too scared to actually confront a person and look them in the eye. Another problem is many people seem completely different in real life as compared to the internet. I think that a barrier is put up; a sort of virtual comfort zone that people can hide behind instead of dealing with things in real life. This leads to a lot of “fake” people. This is my main problem with social networking in general.

Another thing, I don’t think employers or schools should have access to your facebook page. I believe access to a criminal record is good and understandable, but not to facebook. I don’t believe one should be judged on their personal lives outside of work or school when being considered for employment or acceptance.  Many jobs and scholarships have been lost to pictures on facebook.

All in all, I believe facebook is a tool that can be used positively or negatively. It all depends on you. Just make sure you do some housekeeping on your photos every once in a while. It can avoid some rather unpleasant situations. I think it’s agreeable that some things just shouldn’t be shared.