Chapter 127 - The Thousand Hills Hotel

Following the UNHCR's relief team, the investigation team stayed in the refugee camps on the border of Congo and Liberia for more than a week, during which Lin Mingyang's camera recorded a lot of tragic images: a nursing mother, whose stomach had already begun to show severe edema, but in order to soothe her child's hunger, she had to endure the pain of being sucked on, placing her own ****, which no longer had any milk, in her child's mouth. A starving man, too weak to stand up, crawling into an emergency shelter is a complete skeleton of a living skeleton... Everyone can't be indifferent when they see these shots, hunger tortures their bodies, but these tragic scenes go straight to the heart, torturing the souls of all those who witnessed them.

The investigation team stayed in the refugee camp for less than a week in total, during this time everyone was suffering, some members of the camp after a round, after returning, they could not eat at all. Ginny and Luna, not to mention eating, once they recalled what they had seen in the camp, they would retch, and every day they relied on drinking glucose to maintain their strength.

After leaving the border refugee camp, the investigation team came to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, which was the last stop of Lin Mingyang's trip to Africa. Because Rwanda passed a new constitution by unanimous vote in '03, Prof. Creel was ready to examine the improvement of the political and economic situation in this African country after the introduction of the new constitution.

The team traveled along a newly constructed highway into Kigali's old town, up a mountainous hill, and finally found a beige three-star hotel in a grove of camphor. The hotel is a five-story building with a spacious lobby and corridors, surrounded by a blue swimming pool and a charming open-air cafeteria.

Outside the hotel building a tall snow-white stone monument engraved with the name of the hotel, the investigation team members get off, many foreign travelers are in front of the monument to take pictures. Out of the sharp intuition of a reporter, Ginny felt that this matter is somewhat abnormal.

"Thousand Mountain Hotel, is this hotel famous?" She raised her doubts to the accompanying interpreter.

The other party told her that the Thousand Hills Hotel was the oldest foreign-related hotel in Kigali. Rwanda's territory is characterized by mountains and plateaus, with more than 1,800 mountain villages of various sizes. The capital city of Kigali is known as the "Rome of Africa" because, like Rome, it is built on seven hills. The name "Thousand Hills Hotel" is derived from the name of Rwanda, the "Land of Thousand Hills".

Lin Mingyang didn't pay attention to this at first, but he found many strange things in the lobby of the hotel, some equipment and props that should only appear in a movie set.

"Could someone be shooting a movie here?" This thought passed through his mind in a flash, then he waved to the waiter in the lobby, and after the other person came over, Lin Mingyang pulled out a 20 dollar bill from his pocket.

"I'm curious, what are these things put here for?"

The waiter took the tip he gave him, so naturally he knew what he was talking about, "There's a British director who's shooting a movie here, and today their crew just happened to have a break, so these are all the things from their crew."

It was true that someone was shooting a movie here, and after confirming his suspicions, Lin Mingyang suddenly became very interested in this movie that was being filmed in the Rwandan capital.

"Do you know what they're filming?"

"This..." that waiter showed a hesitant and embarrassed look.

Lin Ming Yang pulled out a larger denomination of US currency from his pocket, "I just want to know what they're filming, it shouldn't be considered confidential, right?"

"Because our manager instructed that if any travelers ask about the equipment, just tell them that a crew is filming a promotional video." That waiter looked at the banknotes in Lin Mingyang's hand and finally chose to tell the truth: "I only know that what they're filming has something to do with the Rwandan massacre in 1994."

Lin Mingyang froze, he knew that the world-shattering genocide that took place in Rwanda in 1994 was the most appalling and tragic genocide since World War II, with the capital city of Kigali unfortunately becoming the center of the maelstrom. Instigated by political thugs and media accomplices, thousands of Hutus became executioners, wielding machetes, sticks, and even hoes, brutally murdering Tutsis, and killing neighbors and colleagues; soldiers killed civilians, doctors killed patients, and teachers killed students.... This small, green country was soon littered with corpses, and the blood flowed in rivers. Blood flowed in rivers. In just one hundred days, 800,000 people were killed by each other. Rwanda was not at peace after the massacres, and more than 200,000 more people died in the fighting.

But when he heard the word "massacre", Lin Mingyang suddenly thought of a movie about the Rwandan massacre, then a bold guess jumped into his mind, could this be the filming crew of that movie?

Lin Mingyang remembered that in that movie, a Hutu black man named Paul, regardless of his personal safety, resolutely picked up thousands of Tutsi refugees from the foreign hotel where he worked, and escorted them out of danger by all means. The plot of this movie is based on true events, and the movie was filmed in the place where the story took place. If it wasn't for this waiter's reminder, Lin Mingyang would never have been able to imagine that this beige-colored hotel in front of him had experienced something so extraordinary.

Now that the hatred and carnage were far away, there was no more blood in the balsam-scented air surrounding the Thousand Hills Hotel. The hotel, which had changed hands several times but was always run by a white owner, seemed to be deliberately trying to erase the memories of that year. Lin Mingyang noticed that there was no monument around the hotel, and even its Internet homepage made no mention of it.

The adapted student knew everything just now, but now he was talking about everything, and Lin Mingyang not only got what he wanted from him, but also the door number of the room where the movie director, Rhett George, was staying.

Lin Mingyang himself was planning to make a movie related to Africa, so he decided to pay a visit to the British director, and his communication with the other party might be able to give him some inspiration.

On the way there, Lin Mingyang met Ginny, and he told the other person the news in a moment, and then there was a small tail around him that he couldn't get rid of, which made Lin Mingyang feel regretful in his heart.

That waiter told Lin Mingyang that Rhett George was staying in the hotel's room 2116, but the one who opened the door for them was not Rhett George himself.

The guy first noticed the beautiful Ginny, then he realized Lin Mingyang standing behind her, then he called out in surprise, "Felix?"

Listening to the other person's tone, it seemed like he knew Lin Mingyang, but Lin Mingyang searched his mind hard and finally determined that he didn't know him.

"I'm Rupert Williams, I used to be the assistant to Mr. Lupin, the president of MGM studios." Seeing the bewilderment on Lin Ming Yang's face, the other party prompted, "I used to go to the set during the filming of Sister Agents, and we even took a picture together back then."

So it was someone from MGM, Lin Ming Yang nodded in realization, although he couldn't recall at all that he had ever taken a picture with this guy, but that didn't stop him from climbing into a familiar conversation with the other party.

Williams told Lin Mingyang that MGM had recently invested in a new movie, and he had been appointed as the movie's executive producer. In turn, Lin Mingyang told Williams the reason for his presence and introduced him to Ginny by his side.

Ginny's status as a reporter put Williams on guard, and only after learning that she was only a reporter for the Harvard Crimson did he remove his guard. Lin Mingyang explained to Williams the reason for his visit, and he told Lin Mingyang that when he checked into the hotel, Rhett George had switched rooms with him but hadn't registered at the hotel's main desk. Learning that Lin Mingyang was interested in the movie, Williams was happy to act as a go-between and introduce him to Rhett George.

Williams made a phone call but reluctantly told Lin Mingyang that Rhett George had gone to the Kisoki Holocaust Memorial on the outskirts of the city to look for inspiration for filming, and the meeting had to be postponed until the evening.

When Ginny heard that there was such a memorial on the outskirts of Kigali, she was moved in her mind to visit it, but Lin Mingyang's words completely discouraged her from doing so.

"If you know a little bit about that period of history, you should know that the Rwandan tragedy was probably the most barbaric genocide in history, and the murder weapons used by most of the executioners were machetes, sticks, hoes and other agricultural tools they used to labor in the fields, and today those rusty murderous butcher knives and densely packed skulls of the victims, as well as all kinds of gruesome corpses, are all on display in that Memorial Hall."

Ginny was shocked by this appalling news, but after dinner, she insisted on going with Lin Mingyang to meet Rhett George.

Out of the professional habit of a journalist, Ginny also deliberately checked the information about Rhett George on the Internet before the meeting, and she found that the director had been nominated for the Oscar and BAFTA for Best Screenplay for his Golden Bear Award-winning film In the Name of the Father, and that his debut film Red Son's Ambition had won awards at the European Film Festival and the Sebastian Film Festival.

The meeting took place in the cafeteria of the Thousand Hills Hotel, where Rhett George looked middle-aged, with a somewhat stony expression on his face. He had repeatedly said in media interviews a long time ago that he hoped to make a movie related to Africa, and it seemed that this time he had finally fulfilled his dream of making an African movie. This was the information that Ginny had looked up, but Lin Mingyang didn't see this joy in the other person's eyes, instead he found a deep concern.

Rhett George told Lin Mingyang that his impulse to shoot "Hotel Rwanda" began three years ago with a meeting with the prototype of the film's protagonist, Paul Rusesabagina, who recounted his personal experience that year to Rhett George, and the stirring story allowed George to experience two completely contradictory feelings, namely excitement and fear. Excitement at the thrilling, touching and authenticity of the perfect material; fear at the fact that such a deep and little-known historical fact, a dark part of Rwanda's history that the world has abandoned, has resurfaced in a way that would put the world to shame.

Despite the total difficulties, Rhett George ended up writing the script, MGM initially agreed to invest in the movie, but they wanted to cast Denzel Washington, who had more box office appeal, as Paul, but Don Chandel, who was the lead actor Rhett George had already cast when he was conceptualizing the screenplay, refused MGM's request, and the relationship between the two parties became very strained, with MGM even going so far as to make the film a success. MGM even threatened Rhett George with withdrawal of funding if he did not change the lead actor, but Rhett George continued to do what he wanted and brought his crew to Rwanda.

As a producer, Williams has always been very supportive of director Rhett George's ideas, but he personally can not sway the will of the upper echelon of the MGM, this time Lin Mingyang's sudden appearance, so that Williams saw a turnaround, so he will be so enthusiastic and active to facilitate this meeting.

When Lin Mingyang was still under 17 years old, the box office hit "Sister Agent", which he wrote and starred in, helped MGM get through the difficulties of being on the verge of bankruptcy. At that time, his talent had already attracted a great deal of attention from MGM, and he had a close relationship with MGM President Lupin, so if he was willing to speak up for Rhett George this time around, he might be able to exert some influence on the decisions of MGM's top management.

Just how big that influence would be, Williams wasn't sure. But this is the only way now, is a dead horse, Williams also have to try, on the contrary Rhett George himself does not hold too much hope, he has even done his own money out of pocket to shoot the film, so and Lin Mingyang met his attitude has been nonchalant.

Lin Mingyang also didn't show too much enthusiasm for the production and shooting of the movie, he just asked Rhett George for some advice on filming and Africa-related movie selections.

During the conversation, Lin Mingyang revealed that he was also ready to make a movie related to Africa, and this idea resonated between him and Rhett George, who took the initiative to share with him his experiences in the series of "Hotel Rwanda" from the conception to the preparation.

Rhett George spent a lot of time in Rwanda before the movie was shot, trying to find out what caused the tragic history. But 10 years after the Holocaust, Rwanda has become remarkably quiet. Every Rwandan has had a friend or relative killed or involved in the killings, but they still live together. Hutus and Tutsis lived together on lush hills, there was little trouble, and the country seemed magically united.

Rhett George interviews a Hutu schoolteacher, but the other man is reluctant to talk about politics or anything related to the Holocaust, while a Tutsi businessman shushes him and tells him, "Don't talk so loud!" Despite the fact that the conversation was in a noisy restaurant with a lot of people, the trader continued to look around nervously. No one dared risk saying anything, lest the informer hear him and suspect his loyalty to the present system.

Finally, Rhett George went to a technical school in southern Rwanda and passed through the rooms of dried bodies where 4,000 people had been massacred over four days in April 1994, and where the only survivor told him about the event and showed him the scar of his own decapitated head. The empathetic Rhett George believes that the most important thing in his life is to make a movie about this tragic past.