‘Baby’ earns a 10 in the ring

Clint Eastwood has arrived at the enviable point in his career where

he can make any movie he wants to make. He has come to master the

slow and very deliberate character studies that are at the heart of

his tense Oscar winning films. “The Unforgiven” and “Mystic River”

demonstrated his command of this cinema art form. He takes ordinary

people, propels them into extraordinary situations and makes the

audience care deeply about their fate. “Million Dollar Baby” is no

exception and will receive multiple nominations from the academy.

Hilary Swank is sure to be up for best actress with her bravura

performance as the gritty waitress with championship dreams. She sees

the dangerous female boxing circuit as her ticket out of her family’s

trailer-trash life in the Ozarks. Eastwood and Morgan Freeman team up

as grizzled fight club veterans, who at first resist, then embrace,

her hopes for success. The chemistry between the two men echoes their

relationship in “The Unforgiven” but also provides a touch of humor

to offset the heavy issues that drive the screenplay.

Like Eastwood’s other films, “Million Dollar Baby” includes

calculated tension, conflict and unforeseen consequences that are

driven by the hard choices the main characters are forced to make.

It’s a quiet powerhouse of a movie that will provide unexpected food

for thought for many who see it. With its carefully measured pace, it

may be too long at over two hours, but I don’t think Oscar will care

when it comes time to announce the awards. This is a heart-wrenching

film that will stay with you long after you leave the theater. This

is one of the year’s 10 best.

* JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator

for the Orange County public defender’s office.

Heartbreak ‘Hotel’ shouldn’t be missed

“Hotel Rwanda” is an intense, riveting drama set during the 1994

civil war in Rwanda in which a million members of the Tutsi tribe

were massacred by the Hutu tribe. This “ethnic cleansing” lasted 100

days while the entire world looked the other way.

The film is a true story of the gutsy resourcefulness of a

four-star hotel manager, Paul Rusesabagina, that enabled him to save

1,300 “guests” from the carnage that was all around them.

Paul (Don Cheadle, recently of “Ocean’s 12”) is a quiet, dignified

family man who prides himself on his discretion and attentiveness to

the guests of the luxurious Hotel de Mille Collines in the capital

city of Kigali. He understands his guests’ needs, whether it is

scotch and fine cigars for a murderous general or a bribe to a local

warlord for imported beer.

Although there has been unrest in the country, Paul is certain

that the United Nations’ presence and the imminent signing of a peace

treaty between the Hutus and Tutsis will settle things down. But no

sooner is the treaty signed than the president is murdered and all

hell breaks loose. No one is safe, neither the Tutsis nor anyone

suspected of harboring them.

A tiny contingent of U.N. forces, led by a grim colonel (Nick

Nolte), is there only in the role of “peacekeepers, not peacemakers”

-- but there is no peace to keep.

Paul is Hutu and his wife Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo) is Tutsi, and

he must use all of his considerable talents to keep his family alive

and together. He encourages his hotel staff to get in touch with the

people they know in the outside world and tell them of their

situation, to “shame the world” into helping them.

All of the cast is outstanding, and there are memorable cameos by

Joaquin Phoenix and Jean Reno. Cheadle gives a magnificent

performance, and is the embodiment of simple decency and

determination to do the right thing under unimaginable circumstances.

Director Terry George labored for several years to get this story

on the screen. “Hotel Rwanda” is a powerful film that deserves to be

seen, and we should all feel outrage and shame.

* SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant

for a financial services company.